


The Demons of Dexter Coburn

by JLenon



Series: Dexter Coburn Series [2]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Druids, ESL, Multi, Original Character: Dexter Coburn - Freeform, Sequel, friendships, hoping more people get into it now, never know what to put on those things, scott/stiles/dexter, season 3b, the lack of ship advert a lot of people, unfortunaly
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-24
Updated: 2014-10-26
Packaged: 2018-02-14 14:15:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 26,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2194869
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JLenon/pseuds/JLenon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The four sacrificed themselves to save the most important people in their lives. Now they have to deal with the consequences. But what happen when you can't tell dream and reality apart, when you can't know what you are thinking or feeling?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Anchors

**Author's Note:**

> Here it the sequel. I didn't get that much views on the first one, but here is hoping people will get interested. If not, I will only keep writing to myself, it's okay. Good read!

Dexter was lying down in the couch of the Stilinski’s living room, but he couldn’t sleep. His heart was racing and he didn’t know why. His hands were sweaty and cold, passing through the blanket that was around his body. His breath was heavy, like something was pressing his chest.

He turned, changing position and hoping he would become more comfortable. Since he told Stiles and the others about his father not being in town, he was living with the Sheriff. He knew something like that would happen, the man would never let him live by himself. Especially with all the warnings Deaton gave about the consequences of the sacrifice.

He thought about turning the TV on, since he couldn’t sleep. However, when he saw the screen of his phone showing him it was past 4 am, he figured it wasn’t such a good idea. If the Sheriff woke up and saw the device on, he would hear about it for three days straight, like it happened the last time.

He settle for look at the ceiling, searching for something that would make him sleep. It didn’t help. His heart was still racing, his breathing difficult and his hands…

Dexter stood up when he heard a scream coming from Stiles’ room. He ran the faster he could, climbing the stairs without worrying about falling down. When he got to the door of the friend’s room, the Sheriff was already there, hugging his son, telling it would be okay, that it was just a dream. That was not the first time it happened. The Sheriff glanced at Dexter, who seemed as confused as the man did. There was something very wrong going on.

The next morning, when the Sheriff left his room to make breakfast, he found the kitchen full of food, the smell of coffee taking the whole place. Dexter appeared, putting the eggs in a plate and pushing it at the Sheriff’s direction.

“I already told you don’t have to make breakfast every day, Dexter.” The man warned him again. He always felt bad when the boy did something to compensate the fact that he was leaving there, as if he was repaying a favor. The godfather never saw Dexter staying there like that.

“It’s not a problem; I always wake up first anyway.” Dexter sat in front of him, sipping the hot coffee.

“And also sleep after us.” The Sheriff said, suspicion showing in his words.

Dexter shrugged. “Maybe I need less sleep? I don’t know. I don’t feel tired. I don’t look tired, do I?”

The man stared at him, looking for dark circles under his eyes, paleness, anything that could indicate something was wrong. He didn’t find any. Still, he asked. “And nightmares? Are you having them?”

“I’m not. I feel fine. I’m not going insane.” He repeated as a mantra. “I have to tell you this every day. You, Stiles, Scott, Lydia, Allison. Deaton really shouldn’t have said anything to you guys.” He shook his head and took another sip of the coffee. “Isn’t Stiles going to school today?”

The man stood up, taking a mug full of coffee with him. “I’ll call him.”

Less than an hour later, Stiles and Dexter were entering the school grounds. They haven’t talk much in the way there, both of them worrying about the same thing, the nightmares Stiles was having. The boy saw when the druid started to search in his backpack for his headphones and putting them around his neck.

“What are you doing?” He said stopping next to the stairs.

“Putting some music.” Dexter shrugged, surprised with the question.

Stiles opened his mouth for more questions, but he hold his tong when he saw an anxious Scott entering the school. He stopped the werewolf when he was almost ran over.

“Hey, hey.” He said when Scott finally stopped and realized his friends were there. “Is everything okay?”

He took a deep breath before nodding. The others didn’t believe it.

“No, it’s not, we can see that.” Dexter said approaching his friend.

“I’m fine.” Scott insisted.

“Yeah, right.” Stiles rolled his eyes. “Something is happening to you. You are seeing things, aren’t you?”

Scott eyes widened, going from Stiles to Dexter. “How do you know?”

Stiles was about to answer when he heard steps behind himself. He turned to see Lydia and Allison walking towards them. They also had worried expressions in their faces.

“Because it’s happening to all of you.” Lydia said, making the boys stare at each other. Like they didn’t have enough problems.

The three of them explain what they were seeing. Stiles’ dreams, Allison’s hallucinations with her dead aunt and Scott seeing himself transformed all the time.

“You sure you are not seeing anything?” Lydia asked Dexter and he just shrugged.

“I’m sure.”

“Deaton said you would get the worst part in this, it’s odd that you are not feeling anything.” Allison said, apparently not believing what he was saying. Dexter couldn’t do much to convince them, so he just kept walking.

“Well, well, look who's no longer the crazy one.” Lydia said while opened the doors of the hall.

“We’re not crazy.” Allison replied.

Lydia stopped walking to face them. “Hallucinations? Sleep paralysis?” She shook her head. “Yeah, you guys are fine.”

“We did die and come back to life.” Scott reminded them and shrugged. “That's gotta have some side effects, right?”

The bell rang and they knew the conversation had to come to an end.

“We keep an eye on each other. Okay?“ Stiles said for the two with the troubles and to Dexter. He always put Dexter in the middle of stuff like that. “And Lydia, stop enjoying this so much.”

They went to their first class, which Stiles, Dexter and Scott took together. Stiles could see when Dexter put the headphones on, but didn’t say anything.

Dexter barely heard the new teacher introducing himself. He said something funny, judging by the reaction of the others students. He laughed with them. He noticed when the teacher walked towards him.

“I need you to take off the earphones, Mr…”

“Coburn.” He completed. “They are not working, so…”

“I can heard the music from here, Mr. Coburn. Next time I will have to send you to the principal’s office.”

Dexter sighed and took the earphones off. He wasn’t excited with the class at all, having to fight his own mind to concentrate. He couldn’t be happier when the class was over and he could leave the room and find his friends by their lockers.

“Nice way to make a first impression with the new teacher.” Stiles said while he opened his locker.

“Shut up, Stiles.” Dexter put the earphones again. “I just…” When he turned to look at Stiles, he noticed something weird with Scott. His eyes were red.

“Are you gonna change in the middle of school?” He asked. Scott seemed as confused as his friend was.

“What are you…”

Stiles stared at him too. “Your eyes starting to glow!”

“What do you mean?” Scott was getting more anxious by the second. “Now?”

“Yeah!” Stiles replied. “Scott, stop. Stop it.”

He started to breath slowly, lowering his head so nobody could see his eyes. “I can't... I can't control it.”

“All right, just keep your head down.” Stiles said pulling his friends head and pressing it against his chest. He turned to Dexter, looking for a suggestion for what to do. The boy just pulled them to an empty room.

When they got in, Stiles let Scott go, the werewolf already more irritable and growling.

“Get back away from me.” Scott said, losing control of his own body.

“Dex, do something.” Stiles pleaded and the other just stared at him.

“You need to stop thinking I will solve everything just because I’m a druid. He is an Alpha, I can really stop it.”

Dexter tried to get closer to his friend, but Scott pushed him away.

“I don't know what's going to happen. Get back.”

Dexter saw his friend closing his hand, using his claws to penetrate his own skin and draw blood. He knew this technique, using pain to control the change. It wasn’t really pleasant to see his best friend going through that. He barricaded Stiles, positioning his body between him and Scott. If any of them had to stop the turning werewolf, he had to take control. However, in a few seconds Scott dropped to his knees, his face turning back to normal.

Stiles and Dexter carefully started to approach and when Scott began to breathe normally again, they crouched to see how their friend was.

“Pain makes you human.” Scott said.

“Scott, this isn't just in our heads. This is real.” Stiles avoid the look of the other two. “And it's starting to get bad for me too. I'm not just having nightmares. I'm having dreams where I have to literally scream myself awake. And sometimes I'm not even sure if I'm actually even waking up.”

Dexter faced his friend. “What do you mean?”

“Do you know how you can tell if you're dreaming?” Stiles explained. “You can't read in dreams. More and more, the past few days, I've been having trouble reading. It's like I can't see the words. I can't put the letters in order.”

“Like even now?” Scott asked.

Stiles stood up and looked at the board behind Scott and Dexter. He turned to the posters and signs hanging on the walls of the classroom. “I can't read a thing.”

It was hard to concentrate at classes after that. It got harder to concentrate in anything for Dexter. So, when the bell ringed and he thought he could finally go home, the smile that escaped his face wasn’t small. It did disappeared, however, when Lydia pulled him by his arm telling him he needed to go with her.

She took him and Allison to the woods, not before going to the girl’s house and getting her crossbow. About a mile in, she stopped Dexter and Allison and walked towards a tree, fixing a target there.

“Do you really think this is going to help?” Allison asked with the crossbow in her hand, not much belief in her voice.

“I know that if you think it's not going to help it definitely won't.” She snapped, getting next to the friend.

“And what am I doing here?” Dexter asked.

“You are the other person that know how to use a crossbow. And I find it hard to believe that nothing is happening to you.” She realized he was about to reply, so she stopped him and turned to Allison. “Get your head into it, shoot a few and see what happens.”

Allison was shaking, her body not really obeying her commands. When she shoot, the arrow didn’t even got close to the tree. She looked at Lydia, her head inclined and a disappointed expression. She got another one and was again unsuccessful.

“Maybe hold the string a different way.” Dexter suggested. “Try the Mongolian draw.”

She took an arrow, shoot and didn’t get the target again. Lydia and Dexter looked at each other. It wasn’t working.

“Take a second to close your eyes” Lydia approached her friend, touching her shoulders, “and imagine the arrow going into the target.”

Allison obeyed and, for a while, she didn’t move, taking deep breaths. Then she opened her eyes, all her muscles contained, gazing at something that was next to her.

“Did you see that?” She asked the two of them, who responded by staring confused at her.

“See what?” Lydia asked.

“You did, Dexter, you turned with me.” She faced the boy, looking for something to confirm her suspicions.

“I didn’t…”

“You did turn, Dexter.” Lydia said. “I don’t know if you saw something or not, but you did turn.”

“I didn’t. Really.” He guaranteed. Did he really turned? He didn’t realize that.

Allison crouched, taking one of the arrows that were in the ground. “Wait here.” She said before begin to walk aimless.

“Are you serious?” Lydia had a frustrated frown.

“I'll be right back.” The huntress replied without looking at them.

Lydia faced Dexter, who just shrugged. “She did not just say that.”

They watched as the girl walked between trees, looking for something that wasn’t there. They saw when she got an arrow, aimed the crossbow and stretched out the string. What they missed was when she turned to Lydia and shoot.

Dexter thrown himself on the red-haired, knocking her down. The arrow did scratched his arm and, when Allison came back to herself, she ran towards them. She could see the tear in Dexter’s shirt and the blood running through his arm.

“My God, I…” She didn’t know what to say when Isaac started to help put Dexter on his own feet. There was when they realize the presence of the werewolf.

Dexter put his left hand where his right arm was hurt, staring at Allison as shaken as Lydia was. He turned to Isaac. “What are you doing here?”

“I’ll take you to Mrs. McCall, so she can treat this.” He dodged the question, pulling the boy and walking with him.

At the McCall’s house, Dexter explained what happened to the nurse while she cleaned his wound.

“Are you sure you won’t just heal as we do?” Scott asked.

“No, I don’t heal as fast as you guys do. Faster than humans, I think, but not as fast as werewolves.” Dexter guaranteed.

“How do you know?” Isaac inquired.

“Well, I… tested?” Dexter shrugged and Melissa stopped working. She moved to face him and make sure he was looking at her.

“If I hear about you hurting yourself to find out what you can or cannot do, I will tie you to my leg and keep you at work all day, do you understand? I’m pretty sure the Sheriff will feel the same way.”

“Okay.” He nodded and lowered his head. “But I wouldn’t know if I didn’t try.”

She organized her first aid kit and left muttering. “The things you have to hear from these kids with powers…”

Scott waited for his mother to leave the room before saying. “Ok, but I still don’t understand why Allison shot you guys.”

“Because she thought she was seeing her aunt.” Isaac explained while Scott delivered Dexter’s shirt to the guy. He helped his friend to put it on. “Whatever is happening to you, it’s getting worse. If Dexter haven’t jumped, Lydia would be dead.”

“But what were you doing there?”

Isaac didn’t need to answer. Scott already knew and, as a result to that, threw the beta werewolf outside the room. Dexter couldn’t help the laugh. Especially when Ms. McCall started to yell at them.

Scott called Stiles to tell him Dexter would sleep there. He wouldn’t be comfortable in the couch because of this arm, so he would sleep in Scott’s bed while the friend would sleep in his mother’s room, since the woman would be working.

In the morning, Dexter wasn’t sure if he did sleep or not. He spent a lot of time rolling in bed, thinking about what was happening with his friends, how he could help. He didn’t know what to do.

He was still thinking about it when he arrived to school. Allison was in the same class and spent the whole time watching over him, waiting for some reaction. He just focused in his earphones.

At lunchtime, they got together to exchange information. Dexter, Allison, Lydia, Stiles, Scott and Isaac were at the table.

“Okay, so what happens to a person who has a near-death experience and comes out of it seeing things?” Scott asked.

“And is unable to tell what's real or not?” Stiles added.

“And is being haunted by demonic visions of dead relatives?” Allison finished.

Lydia turned to Dexter. “Shouldn’t you be the expert at this? You die every week.”

“What is wrong with you? I died twice and I’m what now? A highway to heaven? How would I know what to do?” He turned to Isaac. “What do you think happens?”

“They're all locked up because they're insane.” Isaac shrugged.

Stiles rolled his eyes. “Ha. Can you at least try to be helpful, please?”

“For half my childhood, I was locked in a freezer.” Isaac reminded them. “So, being helpful is kind of a new thing for me.”

“Hey, dude, are you still milking that?” Stiles turned to Dexter looking for support.

“You do need to come up with something else, ‘cause it’s getting old.” Dexter shrugged before hearing a ‘hi’ next to them. They turned to see an Asian girl standing next to their table.

“Hi, sorry. I couldn't help overhearing what you guys were talking about.”

Lydia looked at Dexter, with a not so hidden expression that could be translate as ‘who the hell is this crazy person?’.

“And I think I actually might know what you're talking about.” She continued, kind of uncomfortable. “There's a Tibetan word for it. It's called "Bardo." It literally means "in-between state." The state between life and death.”

“And what do they call you?” The red-haired asked.

“Kira.” Scott replied before the girl could. His friends turned to him. “She's in our History class.”

“So are you talking Bardo in Tibetan Buddhism or Indian?” Dexter asked.

“Either, I guess.” She looked for a place to sit and Dexter had to push Scott and Stiles to clear a sit. Stiles almost fell in the other side. “But all the stuff you guys were just saying? All that happens in Bardo. There are different progressive states where you can have hallucinations. Some you see, some you just hear. And you can be visited by peaceful and wrathful deities.

“Wrathful deities?” Isaac repeated. “And what are those?”

“Like demons.” She smiled.

“Demons.” Stiles repeated too, shaking his head. “Why not?”

“Hold on, if there are different progressive states, then what's the last one?” Allison asked.

“Death.” Kira simply replied. “You die.”

“And she says that with a smile. You are quite weird, Kira, have anyone ever told you that?” She stared at him looking confused. “I think I’m gonna like you.”

She stayed for a little while, but the awkwardness made her leave. The six teenagers stared at each other not knowing what to say.

“I think we should talk to Deaton, see what he…” Scott started, but Dexter interrupted him.

“I’m not talking to Deaton.”

“Can you stop running away from the guy?” Stiles complained, throwing his arms to the air. “This is kind of important.”

“I know, but I don’t want to be involved in druid stuff. I’m not going.” He announced crossing his arms and putting his backpack on the table.

“Good. You can study to your chemistry exam, then.” Lydia said, giving him a book. “And hurry because I don’t have all day.”

Scott and Stiles still complained a bit before actually give up and leave without Dexter. The whole time, the boy hide himself behind his book or Lydia, who was happy to provide the protection he needed at that moment. Allison didn’t take long to go home too, allowing Dexter to studied the whole afternoon, Lydia going through some books, once or twice throwing a pencil at Dexter’s face so he could concentrate.

“You are a horrible tutor.” He complained every time it happened.

“Shut up and study.”

He only closed the books when the Sheriff called, asking for help. The man stopped by the school with his patrol car and picked Dexter up, taking him to Deaton’s clinic. They waited until Scott and Stiles left the building.

“I need you guys help.” The man said approaching his son and friend. “Actually, your help.” He pointed at Scott.

“Then why did you brought me here?” Dexter asked.

“Like you can get anything done without the three of you. If it’s not you three, it’s better not even try.” He shrugged and the kids nodded.

“But what do you want?”

“Eight years ago, almost an entire family died in a car accident. One of the bodies, a young girl named Malia, was never found. There's enough evidence to have me thinking that... That a werewolf could have caused the accident, and then dragged her body away. If you could somehow get a lock on her scent if you could somehow help me find her body, it might provide the missing clue.”

“But what if it was a werewolf?” Stiles asked

“Well, there's somebody out there who murdered an entire family. Someone who still needs to be caught.”

Dexter didn’t like the idea. He probably wouldn’t do it for anyone else, he would try to convince the person otherwise. But since it was the Sheriff, there it was Dexter, Stiles and Scott breaking in the house of a widow who lost his entire family while a police officer talked to him in the other room.

Stiles opened the door without a problem, but making a little more noise than necessary. Dexter wanted to punch him, but it would just make more noise. He only cursed him in his mind. They got in quickly, so at least the noise could stop.

They started to throw teddy bears to Scott, anything he could sniff.

“I’m only smelling an animal.” Scott said, putting the bears on the bed.

“What animal?” Stiles asked, still looking through the bears.

“Probably that dog staring at us there.” Dexter said, pointing at the animal with his head.

“Hey, doggy.” Stiles said to the enormous dog in front of them. He turned to Scott. “Do something!”

“What do you want me to do?”

“I don’t know, glow your eyes at it, something, be the Alpha.” Stiles complained while the dog kept staring at them, not that happy about the situation.

When Scott tried to approach him, he started to bark.

“Okay, let me…” Dexter stopped the friend and started to walk towards the dog. “I don’t know if you heard,” he started talking to it, “but we should be friends, you know? Me being a druid and all. Nature, animals, stuff like that.” He had his hand less than half an inch from the dog when he started to whisper. “Please don’t eat my hand.” He touched the dog and petted him. The animal was so relaxed he laid on the floor. Dexter turned to his friends with a smile. “Who saved you asses now, bitches?”

They kept looking for stuff in the room, but the only smell Scott could get was from the dog. They gave up and left the house. A couple of minutes later, they met up with the Sheriff in the middle of the highway and told him about the unsuccessful mission.

Dexter didn’t like to see the Sheriff looking so defeated like that. The man felt bad for putting the widow through that again, for putting all of them through it.

“How is your arm?” He asked Dexter before leaving.

“Better. I think tomorrow I can take the bandages off.” The druid replied.

“All right, I see you at home, then.” He got in the car and left.

“Well, that sucks.” Dexter complained, leaning against Stiles’ jeep.

“I think he really wanted to solve this now.” Stiles leaned next to his friend, as disappointed as his father did.

“But why this is so important now?” Scott asked, staring at the two of them.

“He wants to solve one more while he is still the Sheriff.”

“What you mean ‘still the Sheriff?’”

Stiles explained everything and Scott wasn’t happy about it. Dexter could see it would be one more reason for him to fight his father. Dexter didn’t like the guy, but is was sad to see how his relationship with his son got worse by the day.

As soon as he got home, Dexter turned the TV on. Stiles said he would sleep, which was okay by Dexter. The guy did needed it. He was so distracted with the sappy romantic movie he found, he almost jumped when he heard the doorbell. He opened the door to find Scott with a flashlight and a determinate smile.

“How do you feel about looking for a dead body on the woods with me and Stiles?”

“When you guys went without me, you became a werewolf. Let’s hope for a better outcome this time…”

They called Stiles and soon enough they were walking in the woods, Dexter pointing the way with the flashlight while Scott looked at his phone. Stiles, of course, was talking.

“If my dad is right, there is another werewolf in town we don’t know about.”

“I know.” Scott wasn’t paying much attention staring at the screen of the phone.

“If it turns out to be something like triplets that form into, like, a three-headed hound of hell, I'm seriously not up for that.”

“That’s a shame, Stiles, ‘cause my nights aren’t complete without a three-headed hound of hell chasing me.” Dexter smiled wryly. He stopped walking for a bit and his friends turned to him. “Did you heard that?”

“What?” Stiles asked.

“Nothing.” Dexter shook his head before start to walk again.

They stopped when they found the car they were looking for. That was shy Scott looked so much at his phone, it was tracking the GPS of the vehicle. They examined the place and found a doll. When Stiles squeezed it and she said “I’m hungry”, the three of them jumped.

“I think I just had a minor heart attack.” Stiles said, leaning against a big rock next to the car.

They heard the growl of something and bright blue eyes approaching.

“Please, tell me you are seeing this.” Scott pleaded to his friends. They nodded.

“Yeah, I’m seeing this.”

The animal started to run and Scott went after it. Dexter and Stiles didn’t have a choice other than follow then. Of course, they couldn’t run as fast and ended up behind. But when Dexter put his hands on his ears and ran slower than Stiles, the boy turned to his friend.

Stiles saw the pain expression on Dexter’s face while the druid tried to run.

“Dexter, what is…”

“Remember when I said…” Dexter tried to put the words together, giving up running and dropping on his knees, “that I was fine? I lied.”

He screamed, falling to the ground and pressing his hands even more on his head, trying to make all the sounds go away, keep his ears from working. Stiles approached, trying to get his attention, trying to talk to him, but all his friend could do was bend his body and scream.


	2. More Bad Than Good

Dexter opened his eyes fearing what he would find. He didn’t want to tell his friends and that was the worst way possible for them to find out. Now Stiles had seen the worst part of his new… condition and he would probably never stop hearing about it. Definitely not what he wanted to happen.

He was surprise at not finding anybody with him. The darkness made it difficult to register other people presences, but he was sure they were not there. Did they find the animal or whatever it was chasing them before he started to scream like a crazy person in the middle of the woods?

“Thanks a lot, guys.” He muttered, leaning against a three so he could stand up. It usually took a while for him to feel one hundred percent again. “I faint and you guys leave me by myself. Very good friends…”

Dexter walked around the place, still trying to find his friends, following the path back to the abandoned car they were examining before he lost conscious. It didn’t take long for him to notice it was not the same path he took early that evening. He wasn’t approaching the abandoned car.

Instead, he got to the well-known root of a big tree, which meant more to him than he would like. The Nemeton was there, looking more alive than ever, even without its trunk. Around it, forming a semi-circle staring at Dexter, the boy could see form of peoples. Little by little, he managed to recognize them. Heather. Mr. Harris. All the people that were killed for the ritual sacrifices of the Darach.

Dexter couldn’t react at first, deciding if he did in fact gone insane this time. That looked like the only possible answer to such an absurd situation. Those people were dead and simply couldn’t be in front of him. He wasn’t even near the Nemeton when he fainted, that didn’t make any sense.

Things got worse when the first person fell to the ground. One by one, he saw all of the bodies collapsing, the blood flowing from their sliced necks, the metallic smell making the deaths taking over his whole mind. It was happening again. Sacrifices, deaths, magic. All around him.

All because of him.

He felt a hand pulling him behind. He turned to see the insane smile he know too well. The same Jennifer had when she killed him for the first time. He felt the blade going through his neck, cutting his skin. The blood pouring while he tried to stop the bleeding with his hand, trying to keep it from happening.

He heard a whisperer before he fell too. “It’s your fault.”

When Dexter woke up, he had his hands on his neck trying to stop a bleeding that didn’t exist. That never existed. It startled Scott and Stiles.

“Dude, what…” Stiles stopped talking when he saw the panic in Dexter’s eyes. The boy still had his hand on his neck, even though his friends had no idea why. He was breathing heavily and Scott could hear his hearting beating so fast it was about to explode. All he could do were look around, trying to make sure everything were okay. That it was all a dream. That it was not his fault.

Scott and Stiles sat next to Dexter and waited for their friend to calm down. When that happened, the questions began.

“What happened?”

“It was just… a nightmare.” He said slowly, still leaning on the tree he probably fell on. “I just needed a minute to get back to reality. I’m okay now.”

“I’m not talking about now, you idiot.” Stiles was impatient, pushing Dexter. “Before, when you said you lied!”

“Stiles said you were not… fine.” Scott tried to help, with a calmer voice than Stiles.

“Well, it wasn’t a lie, it was more like an omission.” Dexter was so uncomfortable with that whole conversation. “I didn’t want to worry anyone, you have enough problems and…”

“Speak up, Dex!” Stiles hurried him. “I don’t know if you realized it, but we are in the middle of a forest with a blue eyed monster on the loose.”

“We have a red eyed monster on our side.” Dexter shrugged.

“He is kind of broken, so…”

“I’m not broken.” Scott defended himself, facing Stiles. “I’m just having some performance problems.”

“You should had stay broken, dude.” Dexter laughed with Stiles, while Scott just shook his head.

“Don’t change the subject.”

“You guys keep letting me.” He admitted, taking a deep breath before continuing. “So, remember Deaton saying that after the sacrifices I would had a lot of energy going through my body? Apparently, that energy intensifies some other strengths related to my druid powers. One of them is my empathy. This connection with the nature and all, thanks to the sacrifice, connected me to people too.”

“And what does that mean?” Scott was confused, which wasn’t so unusual for him.

“It means that I can, somehow, capture the feelings of people around me. Like, if you are cold or anxious or…” He turned to Stiles. “Scared.”

“So every time I have a nightmare…”

“I know exactly how you feel because I feel too.”

They stayed seated for a while, processing the new information. Dexter used this time to gather some energy. He didn’t know if he would need to run again.

Scott turned to his friend, opened his mouth, but didn’t say anything. He looked at the ground, but suddenly asked. “So, if I’m hungry and I’m close to you…”

“I don’t know, Scott. It comes and goes. Sometimes I don’t feel anything and it’s okay. Others I feel so much from so many people at the same time…”

“You lose control.” Stiles completed. “Was that what happened now?”

“Yes.”

Scott widened his eyes and pointed at Dexter. “The headphones! That is why you use them at school, right? To keep people away from your mind.”

Dexter lowered his sight and nodded. “It’s too many people at once, too many things to feel. It’s hard enough being close to a teenager, a school full of it? The music helps sometimes, but… not always.”

Stiles put his hand on Dexter’s shoulder. “Well, if we are going insane, at least we do it together.”

They laughed, forgetting for a few minutes where they were. Once they realized that, they almost jumped to their feet. The middle of the woods wasn’t the best place for fun times between friends. At least not in Beacon Hills.

“There is something that I found and need to show you guys.” Scott said and then guided them to a little cave.

“It's a coyote den.”

“Werecoyote.” Scott corrected him while the three of them entered the cave.

“Of course, it couldn’t be something like a rat or a… bird.” Dexter complained not too happy about those walls of stone that looked like were crash on top of them. “I don’t like coyotes.”

“Don’t be annoying, Dex.” Stiles said taking a coat that was on the ground. “You see this? This is Malia's. Remember, it's the same one she was wearing in the photo.”

Scott got a stuffed bear that was there too and he thought about how scared and lost the girl most have felt all that time. Then he remembered something else that may scare her.

“We shouldn't be in here.” He said to his friends. “She's not going to come back now. We just invaded her home. Our scent's going to be everywhere.”

“If she's not going to come back here, where's she going to go?” Dexter asked, already walking towards the exit. The other two didn’t move. He shook his head, frustrated.

“I don't know.” Scott sighed.

“Can you track her now? You think you got her scent?” Stiles asked.

“Maybe.” Scott didn’t seem that sure, looking at his feet and wrinkling his forehead. “But I'm better at this when I'm a full wolf. And I'm still worried that if I do it, I won't be able to turn back.”

“The door's still open.” Dexter added.

Scott looked behind him, the druid still trying to make his friends leave the place. “If I can't get to Derek, we're gonna have to find someone else to help.”

They stayed put for a while, searching for a solution.

“We can call your dad.” Dexter suggested, staring at Stiles. “Say it’s, like, a crime scene.” He shrugged. It was the only idea they had.

In less than an hour, the Sheriff was on site with some of his deputies. They searched the cave, but when the men left the place, they didn’t seem to carry good news.

“You're sure it was her?” He said with Malia’s coat on his hand.

“I looked her right in the eyes and they glowed just like mine.” Scott explained.

“But it wasn't a girl.” The Sheriff scratched his head, unsure of what they were trying to say. “It was a four-legged coyote, right?”

“Well, okay. But yeah, see, that's the point that we don't exactly have figured out yet.” Stiles continued.

“And if it was indeed a full moon when the accident happened, it could be caused by her transformation.” Dexter said. “It could provoked everybody dying and her eating her own family.”

Scott and Stiles turned to Dexter, a mix of surprise and disgust in their faces.

“Why would you say that?” Scott asked mortified.

“That was what…” Dexter looked at the Sheriff and then Stiles. “Don’t blame me for speaking the truth. It can be the reason for the accident, you all know it.”

Stiles shrugged. “It does make sense. They're driving, Malia starts to change, she goes out of control, the mom crashes and everybody dies...”

“Except for Malia.” Scott added.

“Exactly! And then she blames herself, which is understandable, goes off running into the woods and eventually becomes trapped inside the body of a coyote.” Dexter concluded with a proud smile. “See? We already know everything, just go and find her.”

“That makes sense.” The Sheriff said with a blank face. He had his arms crossed and shook his head. “In a Chinese folktale.” He yelled.

The three of them couldn’t even react to his disbelieve. He hadn’t dealt with the supernatural enough to be in the same level of craziness they were at.

“Boys, this is... this is insane.” He said after a few breaths. The boys looked at each other, not sure what to say for him to believe them. “I need this kept quiet. The three of you, not a word. I don't want anyone hearing about this. I especially don't want Mr. Tate hearing about this.”

The man stopped talking when he realized Scott was not hearing him anymore. He was checking something behind his back and the other three followed his eyes, searching for what he was seeing. They didn’t find anything.

“Scott?” The Sheriff called, trying to bring him back to the conversation.

“Sorry.”

Before they could say anything else, they heard a car arriving. Mr. Tate and Agent McCall got out of the vehicle. The two persons they really didn’t want to see at that point. They could still hear the man recognizing his daughter clothes and Scott’s dad complaints before being able to leave.

In the next morning, they talked to the only person they knew could track a girl who became a coyote. A hunter.

“Here's where we found the den. It's right in the middle of the hiking trails.” Stiles pointed to the screen of a tablet while Allison examined the device.

“Well, that could narrow it down. Coyotes travel in fixed trails.” Allison explained and then turned to Scott. “But I think you're right about her not going back to the den. Coyotes don't like wolves. And they're really smart. If they don't want to be heard, they actually walk on their toes.”

“Coyotes tip-toe?” Stiles asked.

Allison rolled her eyes. “They tip-toe.” They heard the bell and she was already leaving while she said. “I got to go, but send me the pinned location and Dex, don’t forget training this afternoon!”

“Okay.” Dexter nodded and only then noticed the weird looks his friends were giving him.

“What are you training for?” Scott mouthed, since the teacher was already in class.

“Fight.” Dexter replied the same way. “I will…”

He stopped when started to fell a strange itch in his nose, followed by a weird melancholia, as if he was missing someone, but didn’t know who that was. There was also a big euphoria, like something incredibly good would happen as soon as class was over. He felt anxious, with butterfly on his stomach. Then embarrassed, focused, distracted, all at the same time.

It was starting again and he still didn’t know how to control. He saw the teacher right in front of him, the new History teacher that already warned him about the headphones. That was not a good solution.

He tried to process all those weird thoughts, all those feelings that didn’t let him know what he was feeling. What was he supposed to feel? What were they talking before all of that began? Fight? The Argents? Coyotes? He couldn’t remember now.

He began to shake, trying to push all that out somehow. He didn’t even noticed when Scott and Stiles left the classroom. Soon his chair started to shake with him, to his front and back, dragging it through the floor, making a huge noise. The all class turned to him and a wave of confusion took his body. He saw the teacher say something he couldn’t understand. It didn’t even matter at that point.

He stood up and ran out of the classroom, looking for a place away from all those people. Away from all those feelings that didn’t allow him to feel anything. He was took by surprise when he felt hands pulling him. He raised his head and recognized Isaac. He was pushing him inside a room he barely saw. A closet? A classroom? He wasn’t sure.

Once inside, Dexter throw his body against a wall, pressing his hands on his mouth to keep him from screaming like he did in the woods. He heard voices around him and could make Lydia and Allison in the middle of the noise. They tried to talk to him, but the boy couldn’t comprehend the words. He couldn’t think.

He felt when Allison and Lydia turned his body. He was looking at them, but couldn’t explain what was happening. He saw when Isaac approached him and slapped him in the face. He stared the werewolf, who was flung out to the other side of the room. Dexter didn’t use his arms to do that, he used his mind. His magic. How?

Allison positioned her body in front of him, trying to make him look at her. He couldn’t hear her at first, couldn’t register anything other than the worry she felt. Was that what she was feeling? Or was Lydia? Isaac? Another person around him? Was it him?

The voice of the girl became clearer and her image too. Dexter felt his muscles relaxing and his mind clearing. Suddenly, he didn’t feel anything. Then he blacked out.

When Dexter managed to wake up again, the only other person in the room was Isaac. He looked around, trying to recognize the place. It was the music room. He didn’t noticed the piano before. He didn’t notice anything.

“Are you feeling better?” Isaac asked without moving.

“Yes.” Dexter replied trying to stand up. He was still too dizzy to do it, so he just sat in the floor again. “How long did I…”

“Half an hour, give it or take. That is what was happening to you and you didn’t tell anyone?”

“I…” Dexter scratched his head. He wasn’t conscious enough to hear a sermon.

“That is too heavy for you to handle by yourself, man.” Isaac shook his head. Dexter could literally fell the worry from the other. He felt guilty. “You throw me to the other side of the class, Dex, and didn’t even moved. You just looked at me and I flied away. If it was one of the girls…”

“You tried to take me out of a trance with a slap in the face.” Dexter gave a smirk, trying to make the situation a little better. It didn’t work. “I’m sorry, really sorry. But it’s not something that I can control and…”

“That is not the problem, Dexter. You lived by yourself for months at your house and told me by accident. The others only found out because the Sheriff tried to talk to you father when you were in the hospital and couldn’t find anyone. Now this. You make it really hard to be your friend and I don’t understand why.”

He stood up and walked to Dexter. He helped the druid to his feet.

“Where are the girls?”

“Outside. A coyote was at school, attacked the new girl. The Sheriff and the police are here, Stiles is trying to talk to him right now.

“Damn it.” Dexter said before running through the hallways looking for his friend. When he found him, Stiles didn’t look that happy.

“Where were you?”

“Feeling all the drama of a high school comedy at once.”

“Didn’t you see me having a panic attack in the middle of class?” Stiles asked with disbelieve in his face.

“Then it was your fault I was having an attack in the middle of the class.” Dexter said pointing with his head at Isaac, who was leaning in a wall close to where they were.

“Oh…” Stiles finally understood, nodding. “My bad, then. I will try not to have more attacks near you.”

“Thank you. Did you talk to your dad?”

“Actually…” Stiles pointed behind Dexter and when the druid turned, he saw the man walking towards them. “So, do you have anything?”

“A couple of students said they saw it running across the field and back into the woods.” He said walking. The boys followed him. “Thank God, nobody got hurt.”

“What happens if she does hurt someone?” Stiles asked.

The Sheriff sighed, already imagining the reaction of the other two. “Most likely they'll have to put it down.”

“What?!” Dexter stopped him. “That is terrible. There is a girl in there, she is just… stuck!”

“And you will kill her.” Stiles reinforced the idea and was disappointed when he didn’t see the reaction he wanted from his father. “Come on, you aren't back to not believing, are you?”

“I believe there are a lot of things I don't understand yet. But that doesn't mean that everything and anything imaginable is suddenly possible. Now, are you 100% sure that this is a girl and not an animal?”

“Yes!” Stiles confirm with conviction. The man still didn’t buy it.

Dexter crossed his arms. “Scott is sure.”

When they turned around, they saw Scott standing in the end of the hallway.

“Scott, you been listening?” Stiles asked with a lower tone and the werewolf just nodded.

The Sheriff turned from one kid to another. He didn’t want to believe in all that craziness, but they seemed so sure and desperate he couldn’t just ignore. He pulled his son by his arm. “All right, let's get this figured out. Come on.”

They got inside the locker room, Dexter still unsure what he could do to help there. Even though he was a little more used to the supernatural, he still didn’t have the experience or the nerve Stiles, who was already messing with everything, had. The boy ended up taking his own bag and showing something to the other two.

“I figured out what she was looking for.” Stiles took a doll from inside of the bag.

“Are you stealing dolls now? This is very serial killerish…” Dexter laughed and, when he noticed all the cops around them, added: “But you are not a serial killer, it’s just a joke…”

“Thank you for that. I just thought Scott could use it, you know, for like her scent.”

Scott didn’t have time to reply when they hear someone talking behind them.

“Where did you get that?” Mr. Tate said going to them and taking the doll from Stiles. “Where did you find this?” He stared at the toy at his hand and Dexter could feel the sadness coming from him. “It belonged to my daughter.”

The Sheriff arrived when he learned the man was there. “Mr. Tate, I don't know how you heard about this. If you got your own police scanner or what... but you can't be here.” He tried to accompany the man out, but he took a step back, startled. The Sheriff opened the man’s coat and saw a gun there.

“I have a permit.” He said.

“California schools are gun free zones, permit or no permit.” He warned. “You need to leave, Mr. Tate.” The man still tried to resist, but the Sheriff insisted, a little more strength in this voice. “Now.”

He tried to accompany him again, but the man still was forcing his stay. Only when another deputy approached them the man accepted he should go. “You find that animal. You find that thing.”

Dexter shuddered at the angry he felt that moment. His feelings came back to normal as Mr. Tate left the place.

“We are gonna talk to Deaton.” Scott said and put a hand on Dexter’s shoulders. “And this time you are going too.”

x.x.x

“Xylazine.” The vet said after the all situation was explained. Scott, Stiles, Dexter and Isaac were there. The man still glanced at Dexter here and there, but the boy decided to ignore it. “It's a tranquilizer for horses. For a werecoyote, expect it to work within seconds. I only have three. So whoever's shooting, needs to be a damn good shot.”

“Allison's a perfect shot.” Scott said.

“She used to be.” Isaac reminded him. “Dexter is training, maybe he can…”

“Mr. Argent don’t let me take guns, he says I’m too… anxious.” Dexter gave a smirk and shrugged.

“Then we are screwed…”

“Okay, what is the point of him?” Stiles asked pointing at Isaac. “Seriously, I mean, what is his purpose? Aside from the persistent negativity and the scarf?”

Isaac was about to respond when Dexter interrupted him. “You do use a lot of scarfs and it’s not even that cold…”

“Can we stop talking about my clothes?” Isaac stopped him. “Maybe I'm asking a question no one here wants to ask. How do we turn a coyote back into a girl, when she hasn't been a girl for eight years?”

Deaton turned to Scott, who was facing his feet. He rose his head before confessing. “I can do it.”

“You can?” Stiles asked.

“You remember the night that Peter trapped us in the school? In the gym, he was able to make me turn using just his voice. Deucalion did the same thing in the distillery.”

Deaton intervened. “This is a werecoyote, Scott. Who knows if it'll even work if you can find someone who can teach you.”

“That's why you called Derek, first.” Stiles said.

“Yeah, I could try it on my own. But right now, I'm too scared to even change into just a werewolf.” Scott confessed, again staring at his feet.

“We need a real Alpha.” Stiles said and got a bad look from all the presents. Dexter even tried to hide the laugh was forming in his face. “You know what I mean. An Alpha who can do Alpha things. You know, an Alpha who can get it going. You know, get it...”

“Please, stop.” Dexter said before Stiles made things worse. He didn’t want to do that, but they didn’t seem to have another option. “I need to show you guys something.”

He walked towards Isaac, surprised at how much the other people were actually looking at him. He closed his eyes and, when he opened, they were shinning. He said a few words the others didn’t recognized and hit Isaac’s head.

As soon as his hand touched the werewolf, he lost his balance, leaning on the wall behind him. He felt his instincts rising from nowhere. His claws emerged in his hands and he stared at them, scared. Soon there were hair in his face and the rest of his body. He was fully transformed and had no idea how. When Dexter hit him again, he was back to normal.

“How did you…” Scott began, getting closer to Isaac.

“There were this book at the Argents and I read how to do it. I haven’t tried it yet, but it worked, so…”

“You tested on me?” Isaac said, still leaning at the wall. Dexter didn’t need empathy to know how angry he was. “Are you insane?”

“I needed to know if I could do it, especially if I’m doing it to a coyote that can eat my entire arm!” Dexter explained himself, even though he could understand why Isaac would be mad. “You were the only person I could test on.”

“Tell me the next time!” Isaac was finally able to stand up. “It’s settled them. Allison shoot, Dexter turns…”

“Scott helps me to get close enough to touch her.” Dexter completed, irony evolved in every word. “With a plan like that, what could go wrong?”

They decided that hunting a coyote should be an activity for the entire pack, so when they gather in the woods, Scott, Stiles, Dexter, Allison, Lydia and Isaac were there, despite the fact half of them had nothing to do in the matter.

Dexter wasn’t at all confident or happy about chasing a coyote and touch its head. Much less using magic. But he had to do it, he wasn’t capable of just abandoning the girl.

They all knew what they were supposed to do, but neither was particularly excited about it. Lydia were the one to finally state the obvious. “Anyone else think we might be doing more harm than good?”

“We're trying to keep a father from killing his own daughter.” Scott said.

“Actually, we're trying to keep a guy from killing a coyote who is actually his daughter, for an unexperienced druid who is scared of magic try to transform her back to a girl by touching her forehead.” Isaac cleared it up, receiving a thank you smile from Dexter.

“And again with the not helping.” Stiles said, throwing his arm around Dexter shoulder. “You will do it; you are the best teenager druid I know.”

“Shut up, Stiles.” Dexter rolled his eyes. He really didn’t want to be there.

“But he is right.” Scott said, trying to appear surer of it. He turned to Allison. “Did you bring it?”

She opened the trunk and took the gigantic weapon. She seemed as excited as Dexter with all of that, which was really saying something. When they heard shots, they knew they didn’t have much time.

They ran, trying to get to the coyote before it got killed. Allison and Isaac were on foot while Scott and Dexter were in the werewolf’s bike. They continued until Scott heard a scream and Dexter felt such a pain he could barely breathe.

The bike fell and the two of them with it. When they were able to stand and look, the coyote was there, staring at them, waiting for them to react. The two started to run but, before they could reach the animal, they heard a click. Both knew what it was and stopped. Scott was stuck in one of the traps scattered through the place, just like the one that made Isaac scream.

“Damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it” Dexter yelled walking around Scott, trying to find a way to take him out of there.

“You need to go!” Scott said. “Save Malia, turn her and…”

“Shut up, Scott, I’m not leaving you here.”

“Dexter, Malia…”

“I don’t care about Malia, Scott!” He yelled. “I can’t do it, I can’t be the greatest hero of the universe like you do. I’m selfish and scared and…”

“Turn me.” Scott said and that made Dexter stop.

“Say that again.”

“If you turn me, I can get out of here.” Scott explained. “You say you are selfish and scared, but I don’t think that is truth. But if you think I need to show you a little bravery, I can do it.”

Dexter shook his head, still walking around his friend. “It must be something…”

“We don’t have time.”

“Even if I could, I’m anxious, you guys are affecting me and…”

“Dexter!” Scott yelled now. “Focus and do it. Slap my head and find Malia.”

Dexter stopped walking again and took a deep breath. He wanted to find what he was really feeling in the middle of all the thoughts and feelings in his head. He decided maybe the best way wasn’t to search for his own, but choose what he needed. Bravery. Courage. Heroism. That’s what he was feeling.

He hit Scott forehead, his eyes shining, but he didn’t stay enough to see the results of it. He turned around and ran, faster than he knew he could, his powers rising at every step he took. He saw the coyote and faced it. When the coyote decided to attack him, he stroked back.

They ran towards each other and the second Dexter touched it, it transformed. Malia landed on the ground, naked, scared, confused. She looked at Dexter and a turned Scott that was getting close. Then she looked around. They saved her. She was human again.


	3. Galvanize

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry about the delay, having some pretty crazy weeks with college work, so... Hope you guys like it.
> 
> Also, there is a new one-shot up with Derek and Dexter, taking place after the season 4 finale. It's funny and silly, but it's up and you should go read it.
> 
> Ok, that's it. Good reading xD

When Dexter entered the building of Beacon Hills High, the school was desert. It was out school hours and he was having a hard time figuring out why he was doing it. He knew it was a bad idea, but staying home by himself, with the nightmares getting recurrent, was a lot scarier than the dark and abandoned building.

Since Malia’s transformation, Dexter must have slept not over three hours each night. The dreams were always similar, as simple as a normal day. In one of them, Stiles and Scott were playing video games while he read a book laying down on his friend bed, kicking Scott from time to time for his yells at the screen. Then suddenly, just like it was nothing, Scott would get up, completely transformed into a werewolf, using his claws to cut open Dexter’s abdomen. He would wake up screaming, trying not to wake everybody else.

The next day, he was having lunch with the Sheriff at the police station. The man complained about the salad Dexter bought while the boy defended himself saying Stiles ordered it. Until he saw the man standing up, reaching for his gun and shooting him in the head.

Those dreams repeated themselves night after night, until it was just easier for Dexter to just stay up all night watching cooking shows. He even developed a technique so the Sheriff wouldn’t noticed what he was doing.

Therefore, the idea of breaking in the school grounds at that time of night didn’t seem as crazy to him. Even though it was to play a prank on Coach.

“Get your ass down here now. We have a job to do.” Stiles was saying to his phone. He was holding the device with one hand while pulling Dexter with the other. The druid had a flashlight on, trying not to trip on the benches in the of the locker room.

“Dude, I'm already in bed.” Scott complained on the other side of the call, making Dexter turn the light directly to Stiles’ face, eyebrows raised with annoyance. “And aren't we getting a little old for this?”

“It’s Dexter’s first time!” Stiles defended his idea, shaking his head so Dexter would turn the light away from him.

“I would be totally okay in not doing it, Stiles. I don’t even like the coach.” Dexter reminded him.

He looked at Dexter with a frown. “Shut up.” He then focused on his call. “We do this for Coach.”

“I thought we did this to Coach.” They could hear the laugh of Scott, probably thinking he was very clever for the reply. Poor guy.

“Whatever, okay? You know he needs this. He lives for this stuff. He loves it.”

“But it's the middle of the night.” Scott added.

“12:15 actually,” Stiles stopped in front of his locker and, after opening it, he began to gather the tools he would need. He leaned the phone between his head and his shoulder to keep talking, “which means it's after midnight and officially Mischief Night/Day, and, by perfectly awesome coincidence, it's also happens to be Coach's birthday.”

Dexter took the phone from him, his patience running thin. “Ok, that’s it, I’m here and I’m not even sure if the Coach knows I am one of his students, so if you don’t get your ass here in five seconds I’m coming to you house to drag you, because if I hear just one more minute of Stiles complaining about how you are not…” He turned around to see Scott standing right behind him. The phone was throw to the air with the surprise, but the werewolf caught it before it got smashed on the floor. Dexter had to breathe a feel times before being able to say anything. “If you were not my best friend, I would kill you slowly and painfully, you know that, right?”

They prepared the prank and, after a few arguments and a quick stop at Scott’s house to grab something to eat, Stiles and Dexter got back home to sleep. Not that any one of them actually could. Stiles was still too worried about not waking up or not knowing when he was sleeping and Dexter wasn’t on the mood to be murdered again. But, of course, when he sat down to watch TV, he ended up sleeping. The killer this time was Mr. Argent. In the middle of one of their training sessions, he decided it was a good idea to use a sword and cut Dexter’s head off. Dexter fell off the couch when he woke up.

Because of that, Dexter wasn’t in such a good mood when he got to school the following day. He had his earphones in position, the best way to hide from the sea of teenage feelings he would capture at school. However, he had to take them off when he got to the parking lot and saw with whom Scott was talking: Ethan and Aiden, the twins who used to be part of the Alpha pack.

“We just want to talk.” They said when they saw Stiles and Dexter approaching.

“That's kind of a change of pace for you guys.” Stiles replied while crossing his arms. “Usually, you're just hurting, maiming and killing.”

“You need a pack.” Ethan ignored him. “We need an Alpha.”

“Yeah. Absolutely not.” Stiles said, even though he wasn’t involved in the threatening stares Scott and Dexter were exchanging with the twins. “That's hilarious though.”

“Why would I say yes?” Scott asked.

“We'd add strength.” Aiden explained. “We'd make you more powerful. There's no reason to say no.”

Stiles rolled his eyes. They have got to be kidding.

“I can think of one.” Isaac said, showing up out of nowhere and getting in the middle of other peoples conversations. Dexter realized that maybe a parking lot wasn’t the best place to have that discussion. “Like the two of you holding Derek's claws while Kali impaled Boyd.” Isaac turned to Scott. “In fact, I don't know why we're not impaling them right now.”

Aiden’s eyes started to glow, his teeth appearing and a growling escaping his mouth. “You want to try?”

Isaac took a step forward, ready for a fight, but Scot stopped him.

“That is not a good way to start a friendship, guys.” Dexter shook his head.

“Can you tell what they are feeling?” Scott asked the druid.

Dexter took a deep breath, trying to concentrate. “Well… fear. Despair. A little anger.” He shook his head. “I think the anger is because I’m invading their minds, but they should know I’m not scared of them and I could very easily throw the both of you to the other side of this parking lot if I’m pissed enough.”

“Sorry,” Scott interrupted Dexter before he said more than he should, “but they don't trust you. And neither do I.”

They left the twins by themselves and started to walk towards the entrance of the school. Scott made sure to check up on Dexter, looking for a sign he agreed with his decision. He breathed better when the druid nodded.

“Good thing I have a good emissary.” Scott said, putting his arm around Dexter’s shoulder.

“I’m not an emissary.”

They stopped talking when toilet paper fell on Stiles head. The pranks had took the entire place. There was also the fact that Scott saw Kira and suddenly everything else was whipped out of his mind.

Stiles followed the werewolf gaze before asking. “What are you looking at?”

“Me? Nothing.” He said before reaching for his locker.

“Come on, it would only be more obvious if you carry a card with Scott heart Kira around your neck.” Dexter rolled his eyes. “Did you even talk to her yet?”

“Talk? What…” He started to stutter. “How you…”

“Do you like her?” Stiles asked.

“I…” Scott leaned more on his locker, as if trying to get inside of it. “She is cool, she is new…”

“Then ask her out.” Dexter said.

“Now?”

“Yes, now.” Stiles closed the door of his locker and the three of them started to walk to their classes. “Scott, I don't think you get it yet.” He patted his friend’s shoulder. “You're an Alpha. You're the apex predator. Everyone wants you.”

“You're like the hot girl that every guy wants.” Dexter added.

“The hot girl?” Scott asked at the same time Isaac approached them. He looked very confused hearing that sentence.

“You are the hottest girl.” Stiles said before leaving his friends behind.

“What?” Isaac looked between Dexter and Scott trying to get an answer.

“I'm the hot girl.” Scott repeated, almost trying to convince himself.

Isaac turned to Dexter, who encouraged him to agree. “Yes, you are.”

Scott opened the biggest smile in the world when the idea finally sunk into his mind. When he left, Isaac just laughed at the group of crazy peoples he got involved with.

The three friends got to class in time to hear Coach’s office falling apart. They divided a conniving look. Their little adventure on the night before was totally worth it.

Dexter probably would have had a little more fun without the weird nuisance, like something was trying to get his attention, even though he couldn’t see what. He paid attention, searching for any noise that could be the source of the bother. He didn’t hear anything, that was not the problem. He though it maybe wasn’t his nuisance. He looked around in the classroom and the only thing out of place was Lydia trying to kill a fly. He must be really losing his mind.

Dexter tried to focus back on the class, but he was doomed to fail. His odds got even worse when the whole school found out about an inmate that escaped police custody and now was on the loose. Stiles was already running behind the Sheriff, trying to get as much information as possible while Dexter tried to gather the improvised pack his friend leaded.

“Barrow went after kids with glowing eyes? He said those exact words?” Isaac asked as soon as Stiles got back to them.

“Yeah. And no one knows how he woke up from anesthesia.” Stiles replied. They were walking down the stairs, Allison, Dexter and Lydia with them. “Just that when they opened him up, they found a tumor full of live flies, which in any other circumstance would be all kinds of awesome.”

“I can’t think of one circumstance where live flies inside someone is awesome.” Dexter shook his head. Sometimes he was really scared of what fascinated his friend.

“Did you say flies?” Lydia asked, making them finally realized she stopped talking.

“Lydia?” Allison called without hiding her worry.

“All day I have been hearing this sound. It's like... This buzzing.” She explained.

“So it was you.” Dexter pointed at her. “I knew something was wrong. If I get a bad grade, it’s your fault.”

“Dexter.” Allison reprehended him and he immediately looked down, embarrassed. Then he looked up, a little scared. Maybe this hunter training wasn’t such a good idea. Allison turned to her best friend. “The sound you heard, it was like the sound of flies?”

“Exactly like the sound of flies.” Lydia confirmed.

They kept walking on the building, looking for Scott and, when they finally found him, they realized something even more worrying. The police left, believing the inmate wasn’t there. The kids wasn’t so on board with this theory.

Stiles tried to convince his father, using Lydia as an argument, but it didn’t work. The man was still skeptical about everything the boys tell him. They would have to deal with the subject by themselves.

They decided the best they could do was search for the man, using every werewolf available and Lydia with her sensitive powers. Allison would go home to look for information on her family bestiary, with Dexter volunteering to assist her.

“You should stay.” Scott said to him. “Maybe you could sense him, like his aggressiveness or something.”

“This is a building filled with teenagers. I feel aggressiveness every step I take; without mentioning I can barely think when I’m here, I will help way more out there.”

“Then let’s go.” Allison called him before opening a window and jumping. He did the same.

They arrived at the Argent’s house and went straight to examine the documents. Allison was looking on the computer from his father’s office while Dexter used his own laptop. They searched throughout the afternoon, exchanging random comments and theories.

“God, how many monstrous are there?” Dexter throw his body behind, landing on the floor. He was tired of going through pages and pages of scary creatures. “I don’t know what is worse, this or school…”

“Yes, my head is exploding too…” Allison gazed away from the screen. “But you should know, since you feel what I feel.” She said in a funny way, as if it was too ridiculous for her to believe.

“Actually, I don’t, at least not now.” He put his laptop aside to face her. “It kinda of comes and goes, it’s quite annoying and surprises me at times too. It just…” He turned away, not sure if he should say it or not. It wasn’t something Allison could help him with, he knew that. There was no reason to anyone to know besides him. But without even realizing, there he was saying. “This is not the worst part. I’m having nightmares too, since last week, when we found the car with the coyote girl, you know?”

“Nightmares?” Allison leaned forward, paying more attention to his words.

“Yes. It’s always the same way, a normal day, I’m doing just regular things. Reading, having lunch with the Sheriff, training with your father. And suddenly they decide it’s cool to kill me.”  
  
“What?”

“Yes. Shot in the head, chest open, severed heard.” Dexter nodded. “My subconscious it very creative.”

“But you think this is still about the sacrifices?”

“It has to, isn’t that what is screwing with our lives? I mean, Stiles probably thinks he is still sleeping, you with your aunt, Scott with his wolf. Deaton warned me it would be worst for me because of my connection with the Nemeton.”

Allison shook her head. “That’s horrible. Have you tried a medicine or something that could just get you to sleep?”

“I was always a little resistant to medicines, maybe is the druid blood thing…” He stopped talking when he felt his phone vibrating in his pocket. When he saw it was a message from Derek Hale, he raised his eyebrows in surprise. He hadn’t talked to the werewolf since he left town and it wasn’t in the most pleasant way.

He stood up quickly and heard an electric noise coming from the other room, followed by a scream. He hold a laugh when Isaac appeared by the door.

“Electrified window?” He asked.

“Yes.” Allison replied staring at her screen while Dexter gathered his things.  
  
“And you didn’t want to say anything, right?”

“No.” She did the same.

“Ok.” Dexter interrupt the less than productive conversation. “I have to go. If you are gonna help her, you can use my computer, I can get it back at Scott’s. If you break it, I’ll break you, so be careful.” He walked to the door and the then turned to them. “If anything happens, you call me and behave yourself. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do and try not to destroy every window of the house. Bye.”

x.x.x

Dexter arrived quickly at Derek’s loft, happy with the opportunity to explain to him what happened before the trip. He was so anxious that he already started talking before even entering the place.

“It’s good you are back, because I really think we should… talk.” He finished his sentence when he noticed Peter Hale seated beside his nephew.

“Oh, how cute, he though you guys would talk about your feelings.” The man said with a mockery smile.

“Shut up, Peter.” Dexter said finally entering the loft. He noticed the place was empty, just the two werewolves and an opened wood cylinder. “For what I can see, you guys need a favor.”

“Yes, I…” Derek scratched his head. “I need you to connect me with my mother.”

“Your dead mother?” Dexter confirmed the insanity of the request.

“I think he only had this one.” Peter replied.

“Haven’t you used teenagers to help you with your revenge and resurrection plans?” Dexter crossed his arms looking at Peter.

“Yes, I did.”

“Well, this teenager knows the psychotic mind you have, so you can take this smug smile off your face and let the clever replies to someone else before I get pissed and decide not to help anyone.”

“But I’m not the one asking for a favor, he is.” He pointed at Derek. “And you kind of own him that, don’t you think?”

Dexter shook his head, pondering if he should do it or just throw Peter out the window. He still didn’t know how to consciously do that, but he was so good threatening people with it. Maybe he should try.

“Dexter, just ignore Peter and… I really need this.” Derek said with so much conviction Dexter didn’t know how to say no.”

“Okay, what do I have to do?”

“You’ll use my mother’s claws and sink it in my neck.” Derek explained putting the claws on the table.

“Your mother’s claws? The dead one?” Dexter couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“I think we already established that.”

He approached the table to look at it all better. “But how will I use the claws to…” He saw Derek positioning them inside the cylinder and he knew he would have to put his hand there, pressuring his fingers until they crossed his skin. “That’s so disgusting.”

“Think of it like a way to reconciliation, to be buddies again.” Peter added while the boy grabbed the cylinder.

“Shut up, Peter.” It was Derek’s turn to say.

Dexter took a deep breath before pressuring his hand on the object. He barely felt the claws penetrating his skin. He knew the worst was still to come.

“That’s gonna hurt a lot, right?” He asked Derek.

“More in me than in you.”

“Ok.” Dexter nodded. “Better this way.” He went behind Derek and was ready to begin before he started talking again. “Okay, but just so we are clear. I’m so sorry for not going with you and Cora. I’m even sorrier for changing my mind so abruptly. I just… I knew I needed to be here. And I was right, things around here are pretty messed up. But it still wasn’t cool, so I’m sorry.”

“I understand, Dexter.” The werewolf said and Dexter could feel the honest on his words.

He then nodded before sinking the claws on the neck in front of him.

He didn’t see much while Derek was out. He didn’t feel much pain either. Basically, the only thing Dexter remembered was an emptiness, the feeling of time never passing, that it didn’t mean anything, that it didn’t existed. However, when he was finished, he had to sit down to be able to breathe again, his heart almost out of his chest and all this muscles sored and in pain.

“Did you get what you wanted?” He asked Derek, who looked even worse than he was.

“Yes.”

“Look, I don’t want to interrupt the moment, but your phone have been ringing the whole time.” Peter pointed to the device, who was still ringing. “I would answer if you didn’t suspect all my actions.”

“I have reasons to.” The boy said before answering. It was Stiles telling him to go to the new girl’s house, Kira. He had send the address. Dexter picked his backpack and looked at Derek, who was still gasping. He did what was asked of him, he had no reason to stay. He waved a goodbye and left.

When he got to the address, he found Stiles and Lydia trying to wake an unconscious Scott.

“What happened?” He ran to them in time to see Scott waking up.

“Barrow, he got Kira!”

“We know, he was after her the whole time.” Stiles explained. He then turned to Dexter. “Did you get anything with Allison?”

“Not while I was there, but I left Isaac helping her.”

They called the werewolf, but he didn’t had any news.

“We need to do something, he is gonna kill her.” Scott said, begging his friends for help.

“I knew he was there.” Lydia said. “How did I knew?”

“Haven’t you heard flies?” Dexter asked. “What are you hearing now?”

She tried to concentrate, looking for a sound that could help. “Nothing. I feel like I can do it, but I don’t know what to do.”

“Lydia.” Dexter walked towards her, making her face him. “You know what to do, just like I know what to do. Most of the time.”

“No, Dexter, it’s like is in the tip of my tong, but I can’t get it out.” She said frustrated.

“I know, I know, it’s like this pressure raising up inside of you, a need to do something, to free something that’s choking you. You can do this, it want to get out as much as you do.”

“I swear to God, it literally makes me want to scream.” She said finally, making Stiles approach her.

“Alright, Lydia, then scream.” He said and Dexter was already stepping aside and covering his ears before she obeyed.

“My God, I’m never helping you again.” The druid said, thinking how much his ears were being hurt by her constant screams.

They stayed quiet for a while, Lydia turning her head, looking for the source of her annoyance. He then looked up to a light bulb.

“It’s not flies.” She said and then turned to the boys, who took a step back with the sudden movement. “It’s electricity.”

“Didn’t Barrow worked with electricity?” Dexter asked them.

“Yes, he was an engineer; he worked at a power substation.” Stiles replied.  
  
Scott turned to them. “Which one?”  
  
They ran to their cars, Scott in her bike, and went to the substation. Scott was the first one to arrive and, while Lydia and Stiles were getting out of the car, they noticed how Dexter wasn’t moving. Actually, he was sitting in the driver sit, his hands on his ears, his body contracted.

“What is he…” Lydia started to ask approaching the window.

“He must be having one of his episodes.” Stiles recognized it just after Lydia could. They both had seen it before. “You stay with him and I will try and help Scott.”

He was already running when he heard Lydia asking. “What can I do?”

“The earphones, he says it helps.” He yelled still running inside the substation.

The girl went through the boys backpack and had to wrestle a little to be able to put it on him. She searched for the loudest son and put it on the highest volume, rooting for it to work. She started to doubt it before Dexter started to come back to normal.

“You really need to do this at the worst possible times?”

“At least I’m not screaming.” He replied taking the earphones off.

“Should we get inside?”

“No.” Dexter answered leaving the car. He had to lean on the car not to fall. “I’m not feeling the fear of death anymore. They are fine now.”


	4. Illuminated

Dexter was seated in the Sheriff’s officer couch, Stiles, Scott, Lydia and Kira by his side. In front of them was Agent McCall and, behind him, the Sheriff himself. They were being interrogated about what happened in the substation, but for a FBI agent, Scott’s dad wasn’t doing a very good job.

“So when did you get there?”

“At the same time.” Stiles replied.

“At the same time as who?” The agent asked back.

“At the same time as me and Dexter.” Scott explained.

“By coincidence?”

Dexter stared at him. “What do you mean coincidence?”

“That's what I'm asking you. The three of you arrived at the same time. Was that coincidence?”

“Are you asking me?” Scott pretended to be confused.

“I think he's asking me.” Stiles tried to clear things up.

“Not me, he barely speaks to me, he like to stare with a frown.” Dexter explained.

“I think he's asking the three of you.” Lydia said.

“Okay, let me answer the questions.” The boys looked at each other, Dexter having a lot more fun than he should with the conversation. “Let me ask the questions.” Stiles winked at him, encouraging him to continue. “Just so I have this absolutely clear. Barrow was hiding in the chemistry closet at the school. Someone left him a coded message on the blackboard telling him to kill Kira. Then Barrow took Kira to a power substation and tied her up with the intent of electrocuting her, which blacked out the entire town.”

“Sounds about right.” Stiles agreed and everyone else nodded.

“How did you know he'd take her to a power station?”

“Well, 'cause he was an electrical engineer. So where else would he take her?” Stiles shrugged.

“That's one hell of a deduction there, Stiles.”

“Oh, don’t take all the credit, I helped a little.” Dexter said. “I was the one who said he was an engineer.”

“There is a ton of types of engineers.” Stiles replied.

“But if I haven’t said he was an engineer, you could have thought he was a psychiatrist or a firefighter.” Dexter shrugged.

“We would probably gone to a fire station and missed her entirely.” Scott helped his friend. “You should give that one to Dexter.”

“Okay, Dexter deduced it.” Stiles gave up.

“Yes, I’m a lot smarter than I look, living around a lot of cops, like my mother, the Sheriff and, well, you, right?”

The Sheriff let a laugh escape and tried to cover it with a cough. Agent McCall didn’t even care about hiding the confusion in his face anymore.

“Dexter, just, uh... Just answer the man.” He said.

“It was just a guess.” Dexter explained.

The agent turned to Scott and Kira. “What were the two of you doing?”

“Eating pizza.”

“Eating sushi.” They said together.

They looked at each other before trying to fix it.

“Eating sushi.”

“Eating pizza.” They said at the same time again until finally being able to do it right. “Eating sushi and pizza.”

Agent McCall shook his head and turned to the Sheriff. “You believe this?”

“To be honest, I haven't believed a word Stiles has said since he learned how to speak. But I think these kids found themselves in the right place at the right time and that girl sitting there is very lucky for it.”

The agent then turned to the girl. “Kira, is that how you remember it?”

The others inclined their bodies, waiting for her response. “Yes. Could I get my phone back now?”

“Sorry, but no.” He replied before standing up and opening the door, allowing the others to leave.

Dexter walked as fast as he could, trying to avoid more questions from the agent. It was always better not to answer than come up with new lies. He was ready to enter the car, go home and eat something when his phone started to ring. He took a deep breath before answering, not ready for another problem.

“Allison, what…” She interrupted him, telling him about Isaac’s attack, creatures that appeared from the shadows like smoke and the request from Mr. Agent to not tell anyone for 24 hours. He only allowed her to tell Dexter because he was a druid and that may help.

Therefore, in fifteen minutes Dexter was at the Argent’s. Chris had already left, so it was only the three teenagers. He saw how Isaac was shaken up about the whole thing, probably a lot of memories from his father’s abuse, the powerless feeling tormenting him more than the attack itself. He could feel all his insecurities and fears while he approached the boy. He could feel the worry from Allison. He sat in the huntress bed; he was tired.

“Okay, what is the plan? What do we do in those 24 hours?” He asked finally.

“Well, ninja warriors formed from shadows is right up your alley, so you stay with Isaac in case they come back.” Allison explained.

  
“I don’t need a babysitter.” Isaac said and Dexter just pushed him with his leg, since the boy was seating in the floor, leaning on the bed the druid was.

“You won’t make me punch you, will you?”

The following day was harder than Dexter expected. Hide from Stiles and Scott was a challenge since they had many classes together and basically spent all of their time with one another; but he really wanted to keep his promise to Mr. Argent of not telling them without having to lie to his friends. Because of that, he didn’t had much choice.

Leave school seemed like a good idea and the destination was obvious, the Argent’s again. But after a few hours of ignoring Scott and Stiles messages and observing the secret, but not at all subtle looks between Allison and Isaac, Dexter started to lose his patience.

“I can’t deal with that.” Dexter closed his book and checked his phone. He smiled when he saw that his best friends were not the only ones who tried to talk to him. Danny did too. “We are going to a party.”

Isaac wasn’t as excited as Dexter was about a birthday party to Danny. When he recognized that Dexter was driving to Derek’s loft, he knew that couldn’t end well. When he opened the door and saw the place full of teenagers covered with fluorescent paint, he was sure Derek would kill them for it.

“Derek can’t know about this.”

As soon as the door opened, Dexter could feel the wave of intoxication taking over his body. He didn’t even need to drink to fell dizzy and for a smile to form in his face. “Who cares about Derek, I want my hair shining like that!”

He ran inside, making the werewolf and the huntress look at each other. It was a bad, bad idea.

They ended up getting distracted in the flirt, making Lydia be the first one to notice Dexter’s situation. At the moment, he had his hair all painted in green, his shirt was missing and he was jumping, while saying he was dancing. When he saw her, went to her and threw his arm around her shoulders, a big smile on his face.

“This is a very, very good party.” He said with his eyes widened, still trying to shake with the beat of the song.

“And you look very, very drunk.” She smiled back, taking his arm off her shoulder. He had to lean against the wall not to fall.

“And I didn’t even needed to drink! No hangover for me!” He shook his arms, excited, and she nodded.

“Yes, just the shame of the memories of what you did.” She noticed a known girl dancing in front of them, staring at Dexter. She was trying to be sexy, but for Lydia, it was just desperation. “Tracy look like she is having fun.”

“Oh, yes.” Dexter nodded. “She is stalking me since the beginning of the semester. She wants me, I felt it.”

“Good to know.” She nodded again, kind of bored with the conversation. “Why don’t you go kiss her or something? She is pretty.”

  
“Yes, but I…” He shook his head, probably making himself dizzier than he was before.

“You are always talking about boys, girls, but I never see you with anyone.” She crossed her arms. “Even Allison and Isaac are finally doing something. I know of at least five people you had a change to date since you got back, but didn’t do anything. Why?”

Dexter stopped moving for a while, his mouth opened, and Lydia thought that maybe he slept standing. Actually, he was just thinking. “Have I ever told you about the first time I had sex?”

Lydia shook her head. “No.”

“Yeah, I don’t really talk about it.” He tried to move and almost felt, having to lean a little further against the wall. “I think is because I’m a little drunk.” He approached his index finger and thumb to show her. “Just a little bit.”

“Just a little bit.” She repeated.

  
“It was three years ago, so I was like 14, I guess.” He put his hand on his chin trying to remember. “He was the guy who worked in the reception of the hotel me and my father were living at that time. I knew which state, but I can remember right now. I will remember later.” He shrugged. “The important part is that he was older, over 25 for sure. And he was nice.” He shook his arms to emphasize what he was saying. “He gave me free deserts, asked how I was and put some premium channels on my room without me asking. So when he started to flirt with me, I flirted back and soon, well…” He tried to wink, but ended up closing both his eyes. “My father didn’t spend much time in the room, so it happened. And later, like, the day after, there was a little girl playing on the hallway of the hotel. When I went to see who she was, the guy came running, saying that I should leave his daughter alone, like I was, I don’t know, a monster that was about to attack her. When I went to the reception, his wife was there. He was married and I didn’t know.”

“Wow.” Lydia nodded, noticing every move the boy in front of her did. She knew him enough to know he always tried to pretend things didn’t affect him. Maybe it was the drunkenness, but she could see he didn’t like to talk about it.

  
“And that wasn’t even the problem. I mean, I didn’t know, so it wasn’t my fault.” He shrugged again. “But the look on his face when he saw me, like I was something broken, like I could contaminate his daughter and everything around me, it was horrible.” He glanced at the floor, hiding from Lydia’s eyes. “It was like my father used to look at me, but like ten times worse because at some point I actually though he cared about me. So, every time I come close to someone…” He got closer to Lydia, making her press her body against the wall. He stopped barely half an inch from her. He could feel the girl’s breath before he continued. “Every time I’m like this, I remember his face. And then I leave.”

He took a step back, allowing Lydia to breathe again.

“That sucks, Dex, it really does.” She put her hand on his shoulder. She hated that he had gone through all that and she couldn’t do nothing to help. She didn’t even liked him back then, but he changed so much since he got back. She changed too. It wasn’t fair for him to deal with something like that by himself. “You should have told someone, that is a crime.”

“He didn’t force me or anything.” Dexter denied with his head, with more eagerness than normal.

“Still!” He could feel the rage coming from her. “And you can’t think everybody is like him. Or like your father.” She saw Tracy again, now frowning at them. “I’m not saying go fall in love and live happily ever after, but you can kiss a girl in a party. You are not broken and you will not contaminate her.”

Dexter leaned his head against the wall, thinking about the banshee’s advice. It was something so deep in his mind; it was hard to let it go. The good think about being drunk was that he got the courage to fight it.

“Maybe you are right.” He nodded, standing straight. “I can kiss a girl. I will kiss a girl.”

Dexter started to walk towards Tracy with a new kind of conviction in his eyes. She opened her mouth to say something, but before any sound was heard, Dexter grabbed her, pulled her close to him and kissed her, in such an intense way she almost fell.

When they were separated, she smiled, throwing her arms around the boy and dancing to the music’s beat. And, for a few minutes, Dexter forgot about the nightmares, the sacrifices, the attack on Isaac, everything. In his mind, just the music guided his steps, the contact with the person next to him. He didn’t remember the last time he felt so free.

Obviously, the moment didn’t last very long. As soon as he saw Derek arriving, he knew things would get worse fast.

“Hey, Derek.” He said releasing the girl, who still protested, but didn’t had enough strength to hold him. He leaned on the werewolf and took a while to get his balance back before speaking. “Awesome party.”

“I can see that.” He answered slowly, making sure Dexter knew how much he didn’t like all of that. As if Dexter couldn’t feel the anger inside of him.

Dexter pointed at Derek, touching the nose of the werewolf with his index finger. “Just don’t kill anyone, they are having fun.”

  
Derek nodded. “You know you are even more annoying when you are drunk?”

He didn’t let Dexter reply; he walked to the sound table and flipped it, breaking all the equipment and getting the attention of the teenagers. When he yelled for them to leave, they ran like hell.

As people left the place, sobriety fell on Dexter as a hammer, straight to the middle of his head, making him instantly alert. It was only then that he noticed a feeble Lydia on one corner of the room, Isaac and Allison carrying one of the twins, Scott and Kira coming down the stairs and, of course, the so-called ninja warriors from the shadows that attacked his friend on the night before.

There was four of them, staring at each other while the last remaining oblivious teenagers left. When they did, the warriors turned to the other twin.

“Guys, they are looking at me.” Aiden stated the obvious. “Why is he looking at me?” They started to approach him, a step at a time, no hurry. It only made everybody edgier. “Guys?”

They started to fight. Scott and Derek threw themselves against the warriors, not getting much success on the offensive. Dexter tried to concentrate and throw one of them on the other side of the room. He didn’t even moved.

“You should be on the other side of the window, man.” Dexter complained, getting closer to Allison, Isaac and Ethan.

  
The fight continued, not much better for Scott and Derek. Isaac tried to help, but when the warrior showed him a sword, he retreated. He knew when to give up. They got closer to Ethan and when they touched behind his ear, he fell unconscious.

They turned around and started to walk towards Scott, but before they could do anything, the Sun came up. As the light penetrated the room, they started to vanish, evaporating on thin air.

Ethan went to his brother and Dexter glanced at Isaac, who nodded. That was what happened with him on the night before. They just didn’t had any idea what it was.

 


	5. Silverfinger

Dexter left Derek’s loft and went straight to the Argent’s house with Allison, Isaac and Scott. When they arrived and found Mr. Argent hurt, they knew he would have answers. He told them about one of the first deals he managed as a hunter, when he was only eighteen. Things went wrong and he was attacked by the demons the boys had faced the night before. He described the attack, similar to the one they suffered, even the eyes with a shining yellow.

Scott noticed the attacks had been against werewolves, but Allison destroyed his theory when she reminded him that Lydia was hurt too. When they realized the targets were all supernatural creatures, they looked at Scott and Dexter.

“Oh, let them try.” Dexter said trying to expose a confidence he didn’t have. Fake it until you make it was his moto. The others didn’t believe him.

“You stay here until we find out more about what is happening.” Mr. Argent announced, Allison still cleaning the wounds on his forehead.

“And Scott can go?” He pointed to his friend. “That’s not fair.”

“Scott is a werewolf. An alpha.” Allison threw the cotton on the trashcan. “You are a druid that don’t know how to use your powers and have emotional problems.”

Dexter glanced at her, frowning. “And hunter training.”

“The beginning of hunter training.” Mr. Argent corrected him. “And you will have a job too; I spent the day tracking Katashi, who also survived the day of the attack. You can help.”

“Thank you for the pretend mission to make me feel useful.” He seated and folded his arms. “I can deal with shadow ninjas with masks.”

Mr. Argent approached Dexter, staring at him and making the tension in the room increase. “You were not there when they attacked those arm dealers.” He took a box that was in front of them and opened, showing one of the masks that belonged to the ninjas. It was in pieces. “I know I didn't kill it. I'm not sure you can. But I slowed it down long enough for us to get out of there. Do you know what was behind the mask?” He turned to the others teenagers, keeping the dramatic tension. “Darkness... Absolute darkness.”

 

After such a joyful description, Dexter couldn’t be more excited about being involved in such a mess. Beacon Hills never stopped surprising him. He was getting tired of it.

Scott left to go to school, promising to come up with some excuse for the three of them miss class. They agreed without other option. They had a mission now and needed to finish it before dawn, before the demons came back.

“The problem is Katashi don’t take visitors. Never.” Mr. Argent explained, still on the office of his house. “He's a paranoid recluse who rarely steps outside the gates of his estate.”

“So how are you going to get to him?” Isaac asked.

“Oh, he's got a thing for rare, antique weapons.” The man said with a little smile. He went to the cabinet on his right while he spoke. “Yesterday, I had some contacts put out the word that I was selling one from my own collection.”

Mr. Argent took a glass box with an old gun inside of it. Allison looked at the artefact as if she knew exactly what it was. Isaac and Dexter looked at each other and shrugged. It just looked like a _really old_ gun.

“This is a French Flintlock Turnover Pistol from 1645.” They leaned on the table he put the glass box, observing the weapon. Dexter even touched the glass and Allison took his hand from there with a disapproving look. He obeyed without complain.

Allison turned to her father. “You're not going alone.”

“If she's going I'm going.” Isaac said.

Dexter shook his head. “Do I have to say it too?”

“To be honest, I don't feel good about bringing either one of you.” The man announced.

“We promised to take care of Dexter. And they were looking right at Scott and him when the sun came up.” Isaac warned them.

“Well, that doesn't necessarily mean he's the one they're going after.” Mr. Argent replied.

“But if he is?” Allison was still pressing him, not giving up.

Chris stood up, still facing the gun. “If he is, that might only leave us till nightfall to come up with a way to protect him.”

Isaac did the same. “All right. Let's go see if a paranoid yakuza wants to put another gun in his collection.”

 

When they entered the car, Allison seated on the front while Dexter and Isaac went on the back. Dexter leaned against the window, suddenly feeling the weariness of all those sleepless nights. Since he couldn’t risk to fall sleep, he decided to do something to distract himself; he called Stiles.

It rang for a long while, making Dexter worry. When it was finally picked up, Stiles’ voice wasn’t on the other end.

“Dexter, shouldn’t you be at school right now?” He heard Melissa McCall saying. That calmed him a little.

“How do you know I’m not?”

“Because I know you.” She said with a tip of irony. “Also because Stiles is here and you are not with him. It doesn’t happen that often.”

“I thought about a restraining order, but he is the Sheriff’s son, so I don’t think it would stick.” He joked, feeling more relaxed with every word of that conversation. “But where is Stiles, anyway?”

“He is… sleeping.” She explained, making a pause in the middle of the sentence. Dexter didn’t miss that.

“Is he okay?” Dexter asked slowly, afraid of the answer.

“Yes, he is.” He could recognized the doubt in her voice. “He is just pretty tired. You all are.”

Dexter sighed, if she only knew. “We are doing the best we can.” He promised, knowing it wouldn’t be enough for her.

“I know.” She sighed back. He didn’t know, but he had Claudia Stilinski’s files on her hand, fearing the conclusions she would get from that. “I need to go.”

“Me too.” Dexter shook his head, trying to take some thoughts away from his mind. “Tell him to call me when he wakes up, okay?”

“I will. And take care of yourself.” She said before hanging up.

In the car, Chris Argent stopped the vehicle when he got a message on his phone. He sighed frustrated.

“What is it?” Allison asked turning to him. Isaac was leaning on the driver seat while Dexter just curved his body to hear.

“Katashi won't do the buy in person.” He replied.

“But he's a paranoid recluse. Shouldn't you be a little less surprised?” Isaac asked.

“I was trying to remain optimistic that we wouldn't have to go to my Plan B.” He explained.

“Is that the one where we get there and kick everybody asses until they talk?” Dexter was excited.

“More or less.” Chris let a smile escape, happy with the other attitude. “But before that; Isaac, how tall are you?”

That provoked a puzzled face on the teenagers. The man got out of the car, being followed by to the trunk, where they found a black suit. He took the clothes and gave it to Isaac. “You can change now.”

They left Isaac with the suit while they examined the plant of the building where the buy would happen. The werewolf would be disguised as the buyer while they would search for another form of access, still maintaining the element of surprise. Of course Isaac wasn’t excited with the plan.

“Guys,” he called from the other side of the car when he finished getting dressed. “This isn't going to work. I look ridiculous.” He complained, walking towards them. “I mean...  I look like I just stepped out of the last period of a Catholic prep school.” He took the paper Chris was delivering to him. “And there is no way that I'm going be able to remember all this. I mean, what does this even mean? Dexter would be so much better at this, he lies so much he can’t even recognize the truth anymore.”

“When I decide if I get offended or not by that statement, we will talk about it.” Dexter said approaching him. “But cut the crap, the risk of me getting an empathic episode and start to scream and cry on a fetal position is way greater than you screwing this up.” He shrugged. “Also, if he didn’t think you could do it, he wouldn’t ask.”

“All you have to do is keep them talking long enough to allow us to get inside and find Katashi.” Mr. Argent explained. “He may not be there for the buy in person but... He won't be far.”

Isaac still wasn’t convinced, lowering his eyes, looking for some excuse to get out of there.

“You look great.” Allison tried to help, unsuccessfully.

“I am sweating, all the way through my jacket. I didn't even know that I could sweat this much.” He complained, feeling uncomfortable.

Allison glanced at her father and Dexter. “Give me a second.” She asked and the two of them stepped back, walking to the other side of the car.

“I would give him an inspiring speech if he hadn’t offended me.” Dexter said crossing his arms. Chris just looked at him. “Yes, I decided, it was offensive. I don’t lie. _Much_.” He corrected himself.

They could hear what was happening on the other side, the words from Allison, how she got closer and kissed him.

Dexter put his hands of his pockets, looking up. “Not uncomfortable at all.” He turned to the hunter. “You are a brave man, I have no idea how I would handle a daughter.”

“Allison don’t give me much choice.” The man confessed without realizing, surprising Dexter. Weeks of training and Dexter never got any answer for his unappropriated questions. The boy smiled with his advances on the hunters world.

When Isaac got back, he showed confidence Dexter never saw on him. The druid gazed at Allison, who smiled back at him. She was really good with boys.

Isaac entered the building to start negotiations while the other three went to find Katashi. It didn’t take long for them to find him and when Chris Argent got inside the room the man was, a gun pointing at him, he found another gun right back to his face.

“All I want to do is talk.” The hunter announced, Dexter appearing behind him with an electric stick he learn to use with his training.

“Taking out my security is not what I would call a good conversation starter.” The mobster said, suspicion in his voice, no surprise from the paranoid recluse with a gun pointing at his head.

“You don't remember me, do you?” Chris asked getting closer. “Allison, take the man's gun.”

The girl appeared next to him with a whip. She threw the weapon against him and took the gun before he could react.

“Now, can we talk?” Chris asked, approaching the disarmed man, until he heard Isaac’s voice behind him.

“Guys?” He said with Katashi’s security team around him, one of them with his claws out pressing his neck. “They have a werewolf too.”

Dexter could see the situation getting exponentially worse. He could see two options, the Argents reacting and Isaac getting hurt, bleeding on the floor of that dirty warehouse; or they not resisting, Katashi leaving without helping them protect Scott. Neither one was acceptable.

The druid felt his muscles contract, the blood flowing quicker on his veins, his heart beating faster. He feared losing control, start to feel everything around him and collapse on the floor. That wasn’t the moment for that. He recognized the feeling, he recognized the power around him. It wasn’t one of his attacks.

Before he realized, he extended his arm and threw Katashi against a wall, the table that was in front of the man pressing him against the dirty glass window behind him. The werewolf holding Isaac forced him more against the boy, but was still unsure how to react.

Dexter had no idea how all of that happened, but he sure wouldn’t miss the opportunity.

“We are gonna have a change of plans around here, mister mobster.” He approached the man, Allison and Chris completely surprise with the sureness and threat on Dexter voice. “Your security team will let Isaac go and you will hear what Mr. Argent have to say. Because if you don’t, I can break every bone of your body, use the window behind you to cut every little piece of you and let your death be as painful as possible.” He touched the table’s leg in front of him. “Your turn.”

Dexter could lie, after all.

When the man nodded and the werewolf let Isaac go, Dexter threw the table to the opposite wall, breaking in into pieces. Katashi fell to the ground, still a little shaken with what happened. Dexter got closer to Allison and leaned on her, trying not to show how disorientated all that display made him.

Chris took the broken mask and showed it to Katashi. “Starting to remember?” He said. “It was 24 years ago.” Katashi examined the pieces of the mask. “You know what they are, don't you?”

“They're called oni. They are demons.” He explained, the fear showing on his voice. “And they are unstoppable. I don't think guns work on them. Then what does? Nothing. At least no man-made weapon. The oni are a force of nature. You don't fight a tsunami. You endure it. And you hope that you're not destroyed in its path.”

“Unstoppable demons?” Dexter nodded. “Why not? How do we _endure_ it?”

“One of you already has.” He approached Isaac and showed the mark behind his ear. “This is Japanese kanji for "self". This means he is still himself. The oni are looking for one who is no longer themselves.”

“What do you mean no longer themselves?” Chris asked.

“Possessed. By a dark spirit. There are 13 kinds of kitsune. Celestial, wild, ocean, thunder. But there is one, a dark kitsune. They call it void. Or nogitsune.”

“A kumicho?” Chris asked again.

“That's right. He was possessed by a nogitsune. It's what helped him rise through the ranks of our yakuza family. Nogitsune draws its power from pain and tragedy, strife and chaos.” He stared at his own hand before turning to Chris again. “Do you know why I'm missing this finger?”

“Penance.”

“There's a ritual called yubitsume. Removing the joints of the little finger weakens your grip on a sword. When a katana is gripped properly, the little finger is the strongest.”

“Why did they take your finger?” Isaac asked.

“They didn't take it. A yakuza performs the ritual himself and offers it to his superior. It was penance for a mistake. And it wasn't my only one... I don't know what it was about the way I moved or stood that suggested to them that I was going to take them on. Because actually I was... Preparing to run for my life. That shot you fired saved me from looking like a coward before the survivors. For that humiliation, I wouldn't have to have given up my finger. I would've had to give up my head.” He gave the mask back to Chris. “I wish I could give you the answer you need, Mr. Argent. I owe you more than my life. I owe you my honor. I will tell you one thing, however. If there is a nogitsune among you... Let the oni destroy it. Even if it is your own daughter.”

Dexter raised his eyebrows and Chris looked at Allison. That was getting crazier by the day. And it wasn’t even the first time Dexter felt like that.

As soon as they left the warehouse, Dexter called Scott to explain the situation. What he didn’t expect was that things at the McCall’s were pretty bad themselves. The Onis were surrounding the house and the protection left on the place wouldn’t be enough to keep them out for long. Agent McCall was hurt and Scott had no idea what to do.

“You need to do something or they are gonna get in.” Scott pleaded.

“Scott, I can barely use magic in person, I sure as hell can’t do it over the phone.” Dexter was running to the car, trying to get there as fast as he could. “But listen, this is important. They are called Onis, they are Japanese demons and are looking for someone who is possessed.”

“Nogtisune.” Scott said and Dexter almost tripped.

“How do you know that?” He asked finally reaching the car. “Scott?”

“Just tell me what to do.” Scott asked again.

“They aren’t gonna hurt you. As soon as they realize you are not carrying an evil spirit, you will be okay, I promise. They are just looking for the Nogtisune.”

“So let them attack us.”

“Yes.” Dexter almost fell over Isaac when Mr. Argent made a bad turn. “You will be okay. Trust me.”

When they got to the house, the Onis had already left. Melissa and Scott were putting Agent McCall inside Dexter’s car and the druid also got in. Scott faced his friend, thanking him without having to say anything. He just nodded and started to drive the nurse, who was holding her ex-husband hand.

At the hospital, Melissa explained the man’s situation while the boys searched for Stiles. They separated and Dexter entered an empty hospital room. He heard steps behind him, even though the room’s door didn’t open. He knew what it was. He turned to find the Onis.

“That’s your chance. Do what you gotta do.”

They went to the boy, who passed out like the other had before. He woke up with Scott and Stiles shaking him.

“They…”

“Yes.” Dexter started to stand up, leaning on his friends with one hand, examining the back of his ear with the other. He breathed easier. “Thank God. I’m really not up to a possessing demon inside of me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you read, don't forget to let me know what you think. I can see when people click here, but I can know if it's good or not unless you tell me xD


	6. Riddled

Dexter woke up with a familiar smell reaching his nose. It was almost intoxicating, making him stand up without even realize it. He wasn’t sure if his eyes were open or not when he got the stairs, following the amazing scent who kept him from thinking about anything other than food. He would have fell from the stairs or tripped in something if he didn’t knew the place so well.

He walked to the kitchen and sat in front of the countertop where he used to eat breakfast. When he opened his eyes, they were closed apparently, he found exactly what he was expecting: the chocolate chip pancakes his mother used to do, the syrup he always liked to put on top of it and a big cup of orange juice. All ready for him to start a great day. All made by his mother.

That was when the reality came crushing on him. That didn’t happen in years because his mother died years ago. She couldn’t be making pancakes for breakfast; she also couldn’t be smiling at him, seating in front of him while drinking the hot coffee she just got from the pot.

That wasn’t possible. Dexter must be gone crazy.

That conclusion didn’t stop him from eating the pancake in front of him. Didn’t stop him from staring at his mother talk and smile like a fool because he couldn’t imagine how he survived so long without all of that. Without having her around, without her telling him about her day, which time she would pick him up on school and how he wouldn’t be at the Sherriff’s house every night because the teachers were complaining he, Stiles and Scott didn’t interacted enough with the other kids.

He almost opened his mouth to tell her he didn’t liked the other kids from school. He stopped because he remembered they already had this conversation. He started to understand what was happening, and he wasn’t liking it. He knew how that would end. He didn’t want it to end.

“Are you cold?” Mrs. Coburn said, taking Dexter away from his thoughts. He hugged himself, only now realizing he was shivering.

“I think I’m.” He said not exactly sure, glancing at his mother and showing all the confusion he hidden until that moment. He tried to stand up, but he almost fell. His leg was hurting and he didn’t know why.

Mrs. Coburn went to help him, the worry spread on her face.

“Are you okay?”

“I don’t know, mom.” He said trying to stand up again, but not being able to. He had to lean on the countertop and realized he was shivering even more. He turned to his side, as if there was a noise there, even though he didn’t hear anything. Suddenly, he was looking everywhere, not knowing why. His heart went faster and he was gasping for air. He wanted to talk, explain what was going on, but he couldn’t. He felt so anxious, like everything around him was a threat. Like he wasn’t safe.

At first, he thought it was because of the dream, the knowledge that they always ended with him dead and, if his mother were around, she would be the one to do it. No one wants to be murdered by his own mother, right?

However, when she touched his shoulder and he didn’t moved to get away, Dexter knew it had to be something else. He wasn’t afraid of her. Maybe _he_ wasn’t afraid at all.

The memories of his real life were getting back, settling in his mind. They never really left, but were covered by the mist of his dream, as if just now the pieces of the puzzle were being revealed. For weeks, he have been feeling what other peoples were feeling and sometimes he didn’t even realized it. If that was what was happening, someone around him was feeling pretty scared. So scared it was making him scared. That wasn’t good.

His mother suddenly appeared with a coat, pulling the boy’s arm to put it on him. The coat was small, which would be funny to Dexter in some other moment. Who could be feeling like that? He thought about where he was, where he went to sleep. It was the Stilinski’s house; the couch who kept him company since he left the hospital when he passed out in the basement of the Nemeton. The Sherriff was working that night, so it could only be… Stiles. It was Stiles. He needed to get back.

Dexter put his hands on his mother’s shoulders, moving her away. “Mom, I need to… I need to get back.”

“Back?” She seemed confused, scared, worried, her expression more tense at every word the boy said. He was wrinkling her forehead, trying to understand what was happening, but not being able to reach a conclusion.

“This here, this is all a dream. I don’t think you are even real, but an echo from my mind produced by the magic from the Nemeton.”

“Magic?” She repeated, sitting on a stool and putting her hand on Dexter forehead. “You don’t have a fever, but…”

“No, mom, listen to me.” He stopped her again. “This is not real, you are not real. You died in a gun accident six years ago. The only reason you are here is to kill me. I need you to kill me so I can get back and help Stiles.”

“Dexter, I don’t understand what you…”

“Yes, you do.” Dexter was shivering even more, becoming more anxious and desperate. He didn’t know if it was coming from Stiles or himself worrying about his friend. He hated not knowing the difference between what was his and Stiles’. He hated all of that. He took a deep breath before continuing, or at least try to. “The dreams always end with whoever is with me killing me. My father, Stiles, Scott, the Sherriff, everyone. Now it’s your turn. I need you to take that knife and cut my neck with it.”

“I can’t…” He was getting nervous. She seemed scared when she stood up and walked to the sink where the knife was. As if she didn’t wanted to go. As if she wasn’t controlling her own movements. “I don’t want to…” She couldn’t finish it, approaching him.

“It’s okay, mom.” Dexter said, a tear running through his face. As soon as she do it, he wouldn’t be able to see her again. Maybe never. His last memory of his mother would be of her cutting his neck open. “You need to do this.”

She approached slowly, trying her hardest to resist whatever was pulling her to her son. "Please." She begged and Dexter didn't know if she was talking to him or to herself. She probably didn't know either. All she could do was walk to him and put the knife at the side of his face.

The tears where now falling without reservation on both faces. He would do anything to stop that, to be with his mother. But he couldn’t. That was not his mother. He knew she wasn’t; but she looked so much like her. The face, the smile, even the cry. She was the mix of all his memories about his mother and letting her go was too painful for him to handle.

He didn’t have a choice. She didn’t have either. When she said sorry, he knew what would come. He just closed his eyes and waited for it to end.

Dexter woke up gasping. He fell from the couch, founding Scott and Isaac next to them. They looked worried and the druid covered himself more with his blanket, the cold increasing even more now that he was awake.

“Where’s Stiles?”

“We don’t know.” Scott explain, helping him up. “He is not on his room and he called me saying he didn’t know where he was, that he was hurt, cold, someone was with him and…” He was talking too fast, making it hard for Dexter to understand. Or maybe was the pain, the fear, the cold, the anxiety he was feeling that was keeping him from concentrating on his words. “When we got here, you were screaming and… what is going on?”

“I don’t know, Scott, but we need to find Stiles right now, because if he is feeling what I’m feeling… we are in big trouble.”

When Dexter got enough balance to get to Stiles room, he didn’t only find Scott and Isaac, but Lydia and Aiden too. He looked confused at his werewolf friends, who just shrugged and pointed to the girl.

“You knew about this?” She pointed at all the red strings spread around his room, connecting photos, clippings and random data they didn’t know the meaning.

“I…” Dexter tried to formulate an explanation, partially fascinated and scared with what he was seeing. He walked through the room, observing every connection, every piece of paper fixated on the wall and had no idea how it all came to this. “It’s his room. It’s not like I come here all the time.”

“You live here!” Lydia insisted, clenching her fist when the frustration couldn’t only escape through her voice. “And you guys have no idea where he is?”

“He said he was in an industrial basement somewhere.” Scott explained.

“We came here to get a better scent.” Isaac added.

“What else did he say?” She asked again, approaching the guys.

“Something's wrong with his leg. It's bleeding.” Scott replied.

“And he's freezing.” Isaac said.

“He is also scared, anxious, in pain, cold and…” Dexter had to sit. “Damn Nemeton screwing my life every time.” He was so frustrated he wanted to scream. The pain that came from nowhere, the cold he shouldn’t feel, the worry for what was happening to his friend, all at once. He knew he couldn’t do much to help. He barely knew how to help himself.

“That is what you are feeling, that’s what is coming from him?” Lydia asked again.

“I think so, it has to.”

“But he is not around. I thought you could only do that with people that were near you.” Scott said trying to understand.

“Yes, but with you guys is different because of the sacrifice. If the emotion is strong enough, I can feel wherever I’m. It’s not the first time it happened.” He looked down, trying to organize his thoughts, trying to use those feelings to help find Stiles.

“What you mean it’s not the first time?” Isaac asked.

“When Cora and Derek left town, they kind of invited me to go with them. They said they could help me find more about the druids and stuff like that, but all I wanted was to get away from that damn tree.” He looked at Scott, who didn’t seem happy with the news.

“You were going with them?”

“That was the plan.”

“And you wouldn’t say anything? Seriously?!”

“I’m sorry, Scott, but I…”

“It doesn’t matter.” Lydia interrupted them. “What does it all have to do with Stiles?”

“The day I was supposed to leave, that was when Stiles had his first nightmare. He slept on Scott’s house and I had to come up with an excuse ‘cause I had to get my stuff. But I knew something was wrong, that I had to stay.”

“And you, I don’t know, detect something that can help us find him?” Isaac questioned.

“I don’t detect anything, I’m not a radar!” Dexter complained. He was tired of having to explain his powers to his friends, they would never understand. He barely could. “They are just feelings, we can’t use that to find him”

“What if they got stronger the closest you get from us?” Scott suggested. “Maybe you can come with us and…”

“Not with you guys, it’s always the same.” He sighed. “We are wasting time, you need to go out there and find him. I would only slow you guys down.”

“I think there’s something here that can help.” Lydia said looking through the strings again. She turned to Isaac and Scott. “You go, get help. We will catch up later.”

Stay home while the others looked for Stiles seemed like a better idea before Dexter had to actually do it. All he could do was shake his leg, cover himself more with blankets and ask if they had any news, which only made Lydia more frustrated.

Dexter didn’t like when Aiden started to mess with Stiles stuff, making fun of him. Actually, he wanted to strangle or rip the head of the werewolf off, which way was more painful to him. Lydia, unfortunately, wouldn’t let him. She told him to go downstairs, saying that maybe he could help more there, although he knew she just wanted him to go away.

Isaac kept him informed of every step of the search. When Lydia ran to him saying she knew where Stiles was, the druid was filled with hope that everything would work out, that Stiles would be okay. It didn’t happen that way. Lydia didn’t find him. The truth was a lot more unexpected than that, because the person that managed to find the kid was agent McCall. The most clueless person about the supernatural on town managed to save Stiles and that made Dexter head spin.

Dexter felt the exact moment Stiles was found. The sense of relieve making all the fear and confusion leave his body. He still felt weird, like with a hematoma that stop hurting, but was still there reminding you of what happened. That’s how Dexter felt when he sat on the wooden chair in the hallway of the hospital.

He saw the adults interacting with each other without paying much attention to him. He heard when the Sherriff thanked Agent McCall for finding his son. He heard when Melissa said they should go home to rest; they had class the next morning. He didn’t really processed what they were saying. He only stood up when Scott pulled him saying they were going.

“I was so sure.” Lydia still said about where they found Stiles. She was frustrated because she couldn’t help more on the search, because she wasn’t able to save the boy before. Scott felt the same.

“I didn’t help much either.” He confessed. “All that matters is that he is okay.” He turned to Dexter, who walked slowly beside him. “Are you okay?”

“Yes.” Dexter said, not convincing anyone, just putting on foot in front of the other. He looked for a better answer so his friends wouldn’t ask anything else. “Just tired, I guess.”

“Me too. Maybe you should head to my house and sleep there, right? Stiles and the Sherriff will be here and…”

“Yes, whatever.” Dexter interrupted him, not really up for all that talk. “I can…” he stopped talking when he noticed Lydia looking around them, searching for something they didn’t know. He could recognize the girl’s powers manifesting, even when she couldn’t.

“Did you heard something?” Scott asked.

“No.” She lied and Dexter didn’t have enough energy to call her out. He just kept walking.

At the McCall’s house, Scott put a mattress on the floor saying he would sleep there. According to him, Dexter seemed too tired and need comfort to sleep. The boy just threw his body on the bed without thinking twice.

However, he wasn’t able to sleep. He notice Scott sleeping in less than ten minutes and really hoped he would do the same, but didn’t reach that result. All he could do was toss and turn, the image of his mother crying with a kitchen knife on her hand fixed on his mind every time he closed his eyes.

In the morning, Dexter seemed more tired than before. Scott didn’t say anything, just put the cereal on the druid’s direction. He didn’t eat. When the werewolf said they were going to the school, Dexter reminded him he didn’t have this backpack. He didn’t even had decent clothes to use, he would have to go home and get it.

Dexter used Scott good will and, when the boy went to the school with his motorcycle, he got on his car and drove to the hospital. He didn’t want to deal with a building filled with teenagers again, not that day, not when he didn’t know how Stiles was.

“What are you doing here?” The Sherriff stared at Dexter when he arrived at the hospital with a big cup of coffee on his hand. “You should be at school.”

“Like that was really an option.” He just drank a little of the hot liquid and offered to the man, who refused. They saw Melissa McCall approaching and she also didn’t seem happy with the boy’s presence there. “It won’t work, better just ignore it.” He warned her before she could reprehend him.

“I will let it slide this time.” She folded her arms. “I need to talk to your godfather, if you want to…” She stopped talking when she paid attention to the boy in front of her. He had huge shadows under his eyes and was a little pale, with a lot more coats than he needed inside. “Are you okay?”

“No. I was awake all night looking for my sleepwalker best friend; now his nurse has a worried face and asked me to step aside. How can I be okay?” He complained, making the woman change the focus of her look. “Just tell me what’s going on, please?”

Melissa faced the Sherriff. “The other day, I asked some questions to him, just symptoms and…” She looked for the right words, trying to control her own emotions. That was hard for her too.

“It’s okay.” The Sherriff encouraged her. He knew more than she thought, apparently. Dexter didn’t know anything. “I think I know what you are saying.” He took a notepad from his pocket and showed to the two of them. “I have been writing this for the last two weeks.”

Dexter didn’t take long to recognize the symptoms written there. He asked a lot about the disease when Stiles’ mom was diagnosticated and then kept researching on his own.

He put his hand on the Sherriff’s shoulder, not knowing what to say. The man kept going. “I think we need to run some tests.”

While the doctors prepared the exams, Dexter got back to the wooden chair of the day before. There was enough space for him to lean his back against it and put his legs up, hugging them. That wasn’t fair. Not after everything that happened, everything they survived, it was too… unexpected.

The whole thing just made his head spin again. The idea of one of them getting hurt because of some monster they were facing was something very real and possible on his mind, but getting sick? With something that could happen with or without the werewolves? That didn’t make any sense to him. That was too absurd to exist on their world.

Scott arrived before the MRI start. He sat next to Dexter and put his hand on his friend knee.

“You didn’t tell me what you were dreaming.” Scott reminded him, taking him off useless thoughts.

“What?”

“When I got to Stiles’ yesterday, you were sleeping and screaming. What were you dreaming about?”

“Oh.” Dexter remembered and gave a little smile with the irony of that moment. “I dreamed with my mother. She had to cut my throat for me to wake up.”

Scott didn’t replied, since Stiles passed on the hallway to the MRI room. They followed the boy. He asked why Dexter looked like he was run over by a truck.

“That’s what I get worrying about you.” He replied.

They didn’t say much more after that, neither one of them on the mood for jokes. They heard the doctor’s instructions, who got a little confused with Stiles’ name. It was comprehensible; it was a recurrent thing.

The adults left the room, leaving only the boys behind. Dexter and Stiles were seating on the machine, Scott standing in front of them.

“You know what they are looking for, right?” Stiles broke the silence. Scott was hiding from his looks while Dexter was playing with his shoelaces. “It's called frontotemporal dementia.” He stopped and turned his head before continuing. “Areas of your brain start to shrink. It's what my mother had. It's the only form of dementia that can hit teenagers. And there's no cure.”

“We will do something, Stiles, you know that, right?” Dexter raised his eyes to face his friend. He saw a tear escaping Scott’s face, but preferred to ignore it. “I have no idea what I can do, but you know me when I have the right motivation. I will solve this, it doesn’t matter what I have to do.”

He had a certainty on his voice that should comfort Stiles, but somehow only made it worse. The boy was afraid of what that could mean to Dexter too.

“And if he can’t, I will.” Scott said, making the others to turn to him. They both knew what he was saying. They understood the alternative he presented and that scared them even more than the one before. But they didn’t have much choice.

When Stiles nodded, even though he refused that same option when offered before, Scott hugged him. All the fear, worry, frustration on that contact. Dexter didn’t move until he felt the arms of the other two pulling him. That was when he finally cried.

They left the room so Stiles could do the exam and Dexter laid down on the couch of the waiting room, Scott seating next to him. When Derek arrived, the first thing he did was notice how tired he looked.

“You look terrible.” He said seating next to them.

“I don’t care.” He pulled Scott’s backpack and leaned his head on it. He was too tired to listen to what the werewolf had to say. He closed his eyes and saw his mother again, but he didn’t had the energy to fight it. It was too much.

He ended up sleeping easily, ignoring everything around him. His mother was on his dream again, but it was different this time. He wasn’t home, it wasn’t the complete form of this mother. It was more like her essence. The smell, the love he felt when he was around her. And her voice.

“When the time comes...” She said slowly, almost a lullaby, “you will know what to do. You will know the right choice, even if it feels wrong. You can’t save them all. You have to kill him.”


	7. Letharia Vulpina

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry about the delay. I had a pretty hard weeks at college, but now I'll have a down time enough to finish this and maybe start to draft season 4?  
> Anyway, let me know what you think and thanks for reading.

Dexter was still sleeping when the trouble began outside the hospital. It didn’t take long for him to wake up and know he had to go see what was happening. It was probably something with his friends. They were always involved.

He ran downstairs in time to see Isaac being carried on a stretcher, the doctors and nurses around him trying to make him feel better.

“What happened?” He asked to a worried Allison, who was following the doctors.  They didn’t let her enter the room where they would work on Isaac.

She looked at Dexter and shook her head, too shocked to reply with more than a: “He saved my life.”

When Dexter saw Scott and Derek entering the hospital, he knew he could get information that is more precise from them. The girl needed to calm down first, while he needed to understand what was going on. He went a few floors up, to the hospital’s cafeteria. While he ate a sandwich, Dexter heard Scott describe the last events. He and Derek realizing that the dark spirit the Onis where looking for was possessing Stiles, who guided them to the electrical power panel where a wire was intentionally released to cause problems; how Isaac ended up getting a big electrical charge trying to protect Allison and, at the end, Kira absorbed all the energy in front of everyone.

Dexter finished chewing slowly, trying to process all. When there was no more food on his mouth, he stared at the werewolves in front of him. “How long did I sleep?”

Scott laughed involuntarily, not knowing why that was funny. Maybe the fact that finally someone acknowledged something that was already rooted on his mind, how everything turned bad so freaking fast. “Half an hour, I think.”

“Wow.” Dexter sighed. He put his elbows on the table and leaned his head on his hands. “But Isaac is gonna be okay, right? He is a werewolf.”

“Yes, he will.” Derek assured him, nodding. “He just need some time to heal the burns. Should take a while, but he will be fine.”

“Okay, what about Stiles? Do we have any idea where he is or…”

“None.” Scott interrupted him. “And I’m really too tired to think about it. We need to rest, all of us. Tomorrow Isaac will be better and we can think on how to get to Stiles and solve whatever is going on.”

“I think that’s a good idea.” Dexter turned around to reach his pocket and get this wallet.

“My house?” Scott offered.

Dexter shook his head. “I’ll try to take Allison home first. Or at least keep her company.”

“You need to rest too, Dexter.” Derek warned him, not happy with the druid’s choice.

“I need a lot of things that aren’t happening right now, Derek.” He yawned. “Just go home, I will see what I do around here.”

They obeyed, knowing it would take a lot more work to change Dexter’s mind. So, the boy brought two cups of coffee and took one to Allison, who seemed like never left the spot she was an hour before.

The hunter didn’t want to go home and that didn’t surprise Dexter at all. Maybe if it were the other way around, he wouldn’t leave too. After all, Isaac was at the hospital because he saved her. If it wasn’t for him, it would be her. Dexter made a mental note to thank the werewolf after. He could heal, she couldn’t.

He ended up looking for things to distract them while they waited. He complained about the nurse, talked about his dreams, anything to keep him awake. He didn’t wanted to close his eyes and see his mother again. Not after what she said.

When he heard it the first time, it didn’t make a lot of sense. But now he knew about Stiles… He understood more than he wished for. She was probably wrong; she didn’t even existed, she was just an echo from his subconscious, who probably knew as much as he conscious mind did. Nothing.

He slept without realizing and had more nightmares. Luckily, it wasn’t his mother this time, just the nurse he was complaining about before. Well, one more reason for him not to like her. When the sun came up and he saw Allison was sleeping, he stood up and went to buy more coffee, losing count of how many cups he drank. While he was putting the change on his pocket, he heard this phone ringing.

“How is Isaac?” The bossy werewolf asked on the other side, making Dexter roll his eyes.

“I don’t know, Derek, nobody let us see him. But I’m getting worried, if he was okay, they wouldn’t keep us outside.”

“He should be healed at this point, or at least conscious.” Derek said, his worried appearing in every word.

“You didn’t really went home to sleep, did you?”

“No.” He confessed. “I was looking for more information about Nogtisunes, something that could help.”

“And what did you find?” Dexter got inside the elevator and pushed the button to the floor Allison was.

“Not much. Just that they are tricky, they want to provoke chaos, destruction and they are extremely dangerous.”

“Of course they are, because an evil spirit that would only give us a bad headache was too much to ask.” Dexter sighed. “I’ll call Scott, we should go to school or something like that. If I learn anything I’ll let you know.”

“Okay. And be careful, Dexter. We don’t know how much control Stiles has over what he is doing, so…”

“Yes.” Dexter replied, leaving he elevator. “He is dangerous too.”

He didn’t find Allison when he got to the place both of them were seated before and he thought maybe the girl went to the bathroom. He decided it was a good moment to call Scott, but the werewolf didn’t answer; it went straight to voice mail. When he turned around, he saw Allison looking even more desperate than before.

She shook her head. “I’m sorry, we couldn’t wait for you, Ms. McCall has a key card, but it had to be fast and…”

“So?” He looked any sign he would get good news. He didn’t find any.

She knew he could read right through her. “He is not healing.”

“What?” He couldn’t understand. “How…”

“I don’t know.”

She almost couldn’t talk, so caught up on her doubts and fears she was. He saw Scott and Mrs. McCall behind her, who just nodded, conforming what she said. They felt as bad as she was.

Dexter shook his head, not ready to give up. “It’s gonna be alright, okay?”

He approached the girl and hugged her, not caring about the lack of physical contact they maintained since they met. She needed comfort, need someone to remind her that even though things were tough, they would find a solution. They wouldn’t stop until they do. If he had to be that person, so be it.

Mrs. McCall decided that Scott and Dexter had to go to school and didn’t leave any chance of complain. Dexter knew when a battle was lost, so he got on Scott’s motorcycle still yawning. They didn’t take long to get to school, especially because Dexter wasn’t paying any attention to what was happening around him. They found Kira and Dexter barely heard Scott and her conversation about the Nogtisunes, since it was nothing more than Derek had said to him before. He heard the coach’s speech about Isaac even less. He was happy so many people cared about his friend, but he had bigger things in mind at that point. Allison, Isaac, Stiles, it was like he was failing to everyone around him.

Dexter used to get better control over his emotions, but the consequences of the sacrifice made everything get even worse. Just another bad thing accumulating on his mind. He felt Scott pulling him by the arm to behind the lockers, where the twins were waiting for them. He didn’t even realized the werewolves were there.

“No Stiles, no demonic ninjas.” One of them said, but Dexter were too distracted to figure out which one.

“Things are getting too quiet.” The other continued.

“Yeah, I know.” Scott sighed. “It's making me nervous, too.”

They stopped talking, bending theirs head to the right. Dexter stared at the three of them, confused.

“What is wrong?”

“A sound.” Scott explained. “It's an emitter. One of Argent's.”

They started to follow the sound through the locker room until the basement. They gone down the stairs and when reached the place, they could see the shadow of someone. It was easy to recognize Stiles. What was difficult was to know if it was really him.

“Okay,” he raised his arms in a sign of surrender, “I know what you guys are thinking, but it's me. I swear to God, it's me.”

The twins ran on his direction before Scott or Dexter could take any decision if it was their friend or not. They pushed him against the locker, but before they could go any further, Dexter raised his hand. The color of his eyes changed, as it usually did when he used his powers. The twins were threw on the other side of the basement. Stiles dropped the emitter widening his eyes. Scott put a hand in front of Dexter, trying to keep him from getting closer.

“Dude, you have to stop throwing people around, I could manage it.” The Alpha complained.

“I’m still trying to control it, Scott, I’m working on that.” He promised.

“Maybe you can try to do that before you break my ribs or something.” Aiden, who Dexter this time could recognize, said trying to stand up.

“You shouldn’t jump on my friends, anyway.” The druid turned to Stiles, suddenly remembering the boy was still there. “You are my friend, right?”

“Yes, I swear, it’s me.” He said quickly, afraid of any unexpected reaction. “I don't know where I've been the last two days or what I've been doing, but this is me. I promise.”

“Can you make sure, Dex?” Scott asked. “You know, with your powers.”

“Well…” He shrugged. “It looks like Stiles, it talks like Stiles and, even though this is something really weird to say, it feels like Stiles.” He frowned with that. “But he was just like that in the last couple of days, so I don’t know how much I can help in that department.”

“You have to believe me. It’s me.” Stiles pleaded.

“You know what happened at the hospital?” Aiden asked.

“I know more than that.” He went to his bag that was on the floor. He crouched down and got a blue paper that was inside of it. “You see this? It's a blueprint of the hospital's electrical wiring. You see all these markings in red?” He pointed at the marks. “That's my handwriting.”

Scott crouched down too.

“I know I did this. I caused the accident.” Stiles said slowly, trying not to make eye contact with anyone. Dexter could see how he felt bad about all of that. He could feel it too.

“Stiles, I don’t think you…”

“Everything in this bag,” he interrupted Dexter, still not ready for the words of support, “it's all stuff that could be part of something bigger.”

The others crouched down, looking at the tools that were also inside the bag. Ethan took one of them and then turned to Stiles.

“What the hell have you been up to?”

Stiles sighed. “I think something worse. A lot worse.”

They took the bag to a table, where they could examine the content better. They started to take everything off it and spread on the piece of furniture.

“You are supposed to be the smart one, Dexter. What can he be trying to do?” Aiden asked and it seemed more like a dare than actually trust in the other intelligence.

“If you are trying to be funny, I can just throw you against that wall again and save us some valuable time.”

“Guys, as fun as it is to hear you guys fighting as if you were three years old,” Stiles complained, frustration present in his voice, “can we please concentrate on the task at hand?”

“Okay.” Dexter sighed, glancing again to the tools. He then got a piece of folded paper. “Well, this is obviously a map.”

He opened the paper to see the marked line that Ethan followed with his index finger.

“Isn't that the cross country trail?” The werewolf asked.

“That's the Tate car. Where Malia Tate's family died.” Scott said when the line ended.

“You mean that's where her father put the steel-jawed traps.” Stiles reminded them.

“Guys…” Dexter said when he realized the clothes he was wearing, “aren’t we supposed to be running there? With the rest of the class?”

As soon as he finished talking, the five teenagers gathered everything and ran to Stiles’ jeep.

“So, what’s our course of action?” Dexter asked.

“You are around long enough to understand we know what we are doing.” Stiles explained and Dexter shook his head.

Scott faced Dexter, who now was pushing the twins so he could fit in the back seat of the car. “Just… Make everybody stop running.”

That was easier said than done, especially because some people decided to separate from the group. Like Kira, who decided to show off her powers by passing everybody else or Danny who was making out with Ethan at the root of some random tree.

When they were able to stop the others, Stiles crouched down to get a metallic a ring that was on the floor. The ring was hooked to a chain that he was slowly pulling.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Dexter asked beside him. The boy just shrugged, not knowing what else to do. He kept pulling and, when there was no more chain left, another ring appeared.

“Congratulations, Stilinski.” The Coach clapped. “You found a metal chain.” He started to walk towards the others. “Now can someone please tell me what’s going on?”

When he took a step forward, he didn’t see a stretched string near the ground. Scott tried to warn him, but it was too late. An arrow appeared out of nowhere hitting him at the stomach. The students were too shocked to react at first. They only started to come closer when the man fell, the blood starting to show through his shirt.

The teacher began to scream while Stiles tried to keep the bleeding at minimum. “Take it off, take it off!”

At this point, Scott and Dexter were already on the ground too, the others giving them space basically because they didn’t know what else to do.

“Take it off. I’m gonna die. Take it off.”

“Coach, you are not gonna die.” Stiles tried to calm him. “You need to stop moving.”

“You need to stop yelling right now.” Dexter asked and, when the man didn’t obeyed, he slapped him in the face.

“You hit me!” He yelled again.

“Stop yelling!” Dexter yelled, joining Stiles at the job of staring at Scott. They wanted him to use his powers to lower his pain, at least until the ambulance got there.

Aiden and Ethan started to advert the other students while Scott used his power. The coach ended up fainting.

When Dexter raised his head to look at Stiles, he could see the desperation in his eyes. It was like the silence made him realize the blood on his hands, what was really happening there. “I could have killed him. I could have killed him, right? What if it was his head or his throat?”

“But it wasn't.” Dexter said before he completely lost it.

“And he's going to be all right.” Scott promised.

They heard the sound of an ambulance and were relieved by that. Soon enough the place was packed with cops and the Sheriff arrived, so completely happy at the sight of his son.

Dexter got back to the car, trying to give them some privacy. He knew the man was worried sick all night. And there was also the fact that the whole thing seemed too simple for a Nogtisune or what they knew about the creature.

He started to look at the trunk of the vehicle and found something that made him call for Scott.

“Look at that.” He showed a wrapper paper. “It’s the same paper we used for that present for Coach. And this material… It’s too simple, too direct. What if this is all a distraction? If everybody is responding here, than the school is free…”

“Free for what?”

“An explosive. That what he can build with this.”

Scott didn’t lose any time, running to school after telling Dexter to repeat everything to the Sheriff.

Stiles was nervous inside his father’s car while they were driving back to school. The vehicle shook because of the speed and the irregular ground, but they got there in time to see officer Parish entering a bus where a kid was holding the device. He had anti-explosive training because of the army, the Sheriff told them.

When the man said on the radio that there was no bomb, but that something weird had happened, showing a sign with the Sheriff’s name on it, the man took a few seconds to connect the info on his mind and understand what was going on. When he did, he saw Dexter on his phone.

“You need to get out of there now!”

The two of them got to the same conclusion. That was another distraction, since the real bomb was hidden at the police station. They ran there, but it was too late. The blast had already happened and there was a lot of injured cops. Mr. Argent and Derek were there too, trying to help as much as possible, but being unsuccessful.

Dexter wanted to help, but didn’t know how. Maybe if he understood his powers better he could do something, but not there. Not when he could feel the pain of all those people, because apparently that was a good time for him to start to feel everything around him.

He felt a hand pulling him outside and saw it was Kira. He barely understood her when she said the Onis were coming. But when the information sank in, he searched for Stiles and made everything he could to take him away from there.

They got inside the jeep again and drove to Deaton’s clinic. However, when they arrived, the Onis were there, as if they were waiting for them. Scott throw the keys to his friend.

“Stiles, get in!” He yelled before transforming himself and start to fight the Onis.

“You need to get in too.” Stiles called when he saw Dexter and Kira were not going to the door. They decided to take anything they could to help Scott stop the Onis.

Dexter hoped the training he had with Chris Argent could help him. He had a good performance with the man, but he certainly wasn’t as able as Kira, who took a sword from one of the Onis and started to really fight. All the druid could do was escape their attacks, and he wasn’t sure he could always do that.

Things took a turn to the worse when one of the Onis were able to hurt Scott, sticking a sword across his body. The last thing Dexter could register was Kira’s scream before he lost conscious. His eyes changed color again and he wasn’t sure how he did what he did after. But he approached the Oni that was closest to him and sank his hand to his stomach. He pulled his hand, revealing a bug between his fingers. When he squeezed it, the creature became dust right in front of them.

He did the same with all the Onis around them before he got back to himself. When his eyes got back to normal, he fainted. His luck was that Kira was next to him and got in on time for him not to fall.

The girl pulled him inside the clinic, while Stiles helped Scott get there. She left the druid on a chair and went to Scott, ready to take the sword from him and allow the werewolf to heal himself. Stiles didn’t let her. He took her arm and smashed her head against a table.

Scott knew at that moment it wasn’t Stiles. The boy got closer to his friend, twisting the sword on his stomach. Scott screamed in pain, not being able to stop it. The other had fun with the sound, saying he was fed by chaos and how Scott took away all that pain he wanted back.

“You need to learn, Scott…” He said, enjoying every second of that, “you can’t trust a fox.”

“Or a druid.” Dexter said before sinking a needle on Stiles’ neck.


End file.
